


You're a world away

by UnlockTheRainbow



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Ava Plays Soccer, Avalance Centered, But Zamaya is there too, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff, Kind of enemies to lovers, Mentions of alcohol, Sara Is In A Gang, Slow Burn, mentions of druguse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2019-10-03 04:14:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 56,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17276888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnlockTheRainbow/pseuds/UnlockTheRainbow
Summary: Sara annoys Ava in a lecture and decides that is her new hobby.Ava doesn't understand why most people find Sara charming.They're both in college. They both have a lot of issues. And they're both falling for eachother.





	1. Tomorrow gon' be better today I'm feeling low

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!
> 
> I've been doing Not So Good and I really felt like writing something. It turned out a lot happier than I thought it would but yeah I still hope you enjoy. 
> 
> This chapter is really Ava centered and the next chapter will be really Sara centered, because i felt like that was needed to set the story. I think after that it'll be more equal and more interactions so I hope you'll bear with me until then.
> 
> I'll probably update once a week but I have to figure out a day because my schedule is a bit fucked up until february so it might be a little later or sooner.
> 
> If you like the story let me know in the comments it fuels my writing hahah. 
> 
> Title of this chapter is from 'Into the future' by Chef'Special. Give it a listen It's nice!  
> Title of the work is from some song I heard on the radio.

Ava wanted to punch herself. She had soccer practice from 7 to 9 and a class at 10. She had planned to get up at 6, have a light breakfast and take her soccer gear and school supplies with her so she could make it to class in time and still have a shower. However, when rinsing the shampoo from her hair in the gym’s showers, she realised she completely forgot to pack her schoolbag.

 

Eyes wide she barely dried herself, before trying to quickly put on her clothes. She’d had to jump up and down quite a few times to get herself in the skinny jeans. She swore, normally Ava wore baggier clothing when she had soccer practice. After two hours of exercise she found it was nicer to have clothes that left her free to move however she wanted to.

 

She threw her hoodie over her head and didn’t really care about the one arm that wasn’t completely through the sleeve yet as she picked up her sports bag and sprinted to her car.

 

Ava barrelled through the door of the apartment she shared with Lily and ran to her room, throwing the school supplies she would need into her bag. She was back out the front door in less than two minutes and halfway down the stairs of the flat, when she looked at the notebook in her hand. She swore again, and sprinted back up the stairs.

 

‘Here you go’ Lily said with a smirk, holding out the right notebook to Ava, when she stormed back into their apartment five seconds later.

 

‘OhmygodThankyouBye!’ Ava managed to pant before sprinting back out the door.

 

It was now 9.52 and she almost speeded to get to class in time. Keyword ‘almost’, because Ava couldn’t bring herself to break the rule of not speeding in order to not break the rule of getting to class late. Ava loved rules, she believed if the rules were fair to everyone and meant to help people, following them would result in the best outcome for everyone.

 

At 10 am on the dot, Ava sprinted into the lecture hall, panting out an apology to her professor. Her professor waved the apology away with an apologetic smile on her face and pointed at the only vacant seat left. ‘Sorry, good luck.’ She muttered to Ava, before turning around to write something on the board.

 

Confused, Ava turned around, eyes going comically wide for a second before steeling her features as she walked to the open seat, right next to the most annoying and intriguing person Ava had ever met. Sara Lance.

 

Sara’s blonde hair framed her face as she smirked at Ava. She was slouched down in the seat, the ankle of her right leg, resting on the knee of her other leg and arms crossed in front of her. Ava could see the well defined biceps through her tightfitting brown long-sleeved shirt.

 

Ava mostly pushed the intrigue down, because she didn’t know what to do with it. She focused on the annoying parts of Sara, which there were plenty of, starting with a general lack of care that the smaller blonde got going for her.

 

Sara also really didn’t do well with authority figures and she didn’t keep that a secret either. She didn’t understand why someone would automatically be able to call the shots and would be respected more just because they were older and in a position of power. She was always challenging the professors and it drove them, and Ava too, crazy. But no matter how much of a brat she was, she was right a lot of the times and of course their professors couldn’t handle that.

 

The rest of their class ate it up. Everyone loved a little drama, especially when it was a strict professor versus a bratty student. And especially if that bratty student was right all the time and left the professors fuming in annoyance.

 

Ava, of course, didn’t like it, she felt like she was in college to learn something. That meant listening to what the professor had to say and only opening your mouth when you wanted to answer a question or when you had a necessary question to ask. Not when you just wanted to make a point or felt like you needed to add something unnecessary.

 

Sara only ever confirmed her theory on following rules, she broke all of them by talking in class, asking unnecessary questions and making unnecessary comments. And as a result, they would never finish everything the professor wanted to cover in class and they would all get more homework. That, naturally, not being the best outcome for everyone.

 

Sara had all the students wrapped around her finger enough that they all believed it was not Sara’s fault but just the professor unfairly punishing them because they were annoyed. But not Ava, Ava saw that the professor desperately wanted to move on and cover everything but didn’t get the chance to because of Sara’s interruptions. Ava also saw that Sara knew this damn well and that irked her the most.

 

She didn’t understand how someone could deliberately make it so hard for someone else to do their jobs and she felt bad for the professors who were also just trying their best. Ava always made sure to let her professor know that she knew it wasn’t their fault they couldn’t cover everything in class when Sara was there, in hopes of making them feel a little better.

 

Luckily for Ava and the professors Sara wasn’t in class all that much. Almost only when the attendance was mandatory or significantly counted towards your grade. Which was now the case, seeing as Sara was in a seat, smirk on her face when she saw the desperation in Ava’s eyes.

 

‘What are you doing here, we are two weeks in the semester.’ Ava grunted in a low voice, not looking the other blonde in the eyes.

 

Sara shrugged, ‘I missed ten percent of the classes, so if I come to the rest of them, I still get a full attendance grade.’ Ava huffed and rolled her eyes, starting to unpack her bag as Sara continued: ‘But enough about me, I noticed that the little teacher’s pet was almost late.’ She tutted, dramatically turning to face Ava with a disappointed look on her face.

 

Ava tried to ignore her, but she couldn’t help herself ‘Almost late isn’t the same as actually late.’ She muttered under her breath. ‘Besides, you haven’t even been to class in two weeks.’.

 

Sara, much to Ava’s dismay, found it more interesting to try and get a rise out of Ava than challenging the professor’s every word. This meant that Ava had to try twice has hard in keeping up with what the professor was saying and taking accurate notes. In the quarter hour break Ava turned to Sara, face red with annoyance.

 

‘I’m sorry, is it me or do you not have any type of filter? Are you incapable of just thinking? Do you have to say everything that’s on your mind?’ Ava said, trying to keep her voice down.

 

Sara just smirked ‘Oh, it’s you, I’m filtering out all the NSFW parts.’ She answered with a wink. Ava’s face got even redder, now from annoyance and embarrassment at the same time.

 

She all but snarled and her hands motioned to Sara’s neck as if she was going to strangle her. Sara just laughed and made a show of letting Ava know the professor was waiting on them. The class snickered, and Ava quickly avoided everyone’s eyes, her face hot with embarrassment. Today, was not a good day for her.

 

Sara didn’t stop trying to get under her skin after the break and by the time the class ended, Ava was tired and miserable. On top of that, her muscles started to ache from her soccer practice and running up and down the stairs a few too many times this morning.

 

Luckily for Ava, this was her only class today, and she couldn’t wait to get back to her apartment. She was always on top of her homework, so she only had to do a few things before she could curl up in bed with her tv-show and forget about this horrible day.

 

‘I’ll see you Thursday.’ Sara said with a wink as she picked up her bag and walked out of the lecture hall. Ava groaned and let her head fall on the table for a second, just lying there miserably, before getting herself together and packing up her bag. She already dreaded the lecture on Thursday.

 

Ava didn’t understand why the smaller blonde suddenly had it in for her, but she really didn’t like it. She’d tried to deal with it the way you’re supposed to deal with bullies. Just ignoring them until they get bored. But in one-and-a-half-hour lecture, Sara hadn’t stopped for even a minute. She feared the blonde wouldn't give up that easily.

 

The hectic morning drained all her energy and when she got home, she yelled a tired hello to Lily before falling face down on her bed.

 

Ava woke up to Lily jumping up and down on her bed. She groaned and tried to cover her pounding head with a pillow. ‘Come on Ava! I made popcorn, it’s a little burnt but still good, and we can watch that new movie with Sandra Bullock and those kids!’ Lily yelled excitedly.

 

Ava just groaned from under her pillow. ‘Wait. What time is it? How long did I sleep?’ She asked, her voice sounding a little muffled.

 

‘It’s 3 pm sleepyhead, you sounded really tired, so I thought I’d let you sleep, but I was getting sick of waiting after 3 hours.’

 

‘My head is pounding can you hand me an aspirin please. Or 6.’ Ava grunted. She uncovered her head and started to slowly open her eyes as she felt Lily moving away to get her the much-needed medicine. ‘How do you even burn popcorn?!’ she yelled after the brunette.

 

She pulled her legs up to her chest and realised she’s been so tired she completely forgot to take off her shoes. Ava groaned and threw the covers off of her to check if she’d ruined her sheets. She sighed relieved when she saw her sheets were still the same light grey as they had been this morning. She sat up and moved to take off her shoes and put on some more comfortable clothes.

 

Half an hour and a lot of protesting later, they were both seated on the couch with freshly made popcorn. This time Ava did it and it turned out much better. Her headache started to disappear as the aspirin started to do its work. They started the movie and the harsh tone of Sandra Bullock’s voice filled the space.

 

Twenty minutes in, Lily sighed and pressed pause. ‘What’s gotten into you? You’re barely looking at the screen and you keep asking me of all people what’s happening in the movie.’ She said, turning to face Ava.

 

Ava sighed, rubbing her eyes. ‘I don’t know Lil, there is this girl in my Fundamental Finance class, whose new hobby seems to be to get under my skin. I don’t know why it’s affecting me so much. She has always been annoying. She never listens to the professors and she keeps interrupting them, so they can never cover everything. But now she shifted all of her focus on me and I can’t figure out why.’ Ava sighed, taking a pillow into her arms and hugging it to her chest protectively.

 

‘Oh man that sucks we had one of those too in a class, we never got anything done.’ Lily nodded. ‘Did you react to her? People like that love it when they succeed in getting a rise out of others.’ She added.

 

‘I tried to ignore her. But she’s infuriating. I’ve always found her annoying when she was in my class. Luckily, she skips a lot. But this class is mandatory, you only get a full attendance grade if you’re there ninety percent of the time and she’s already skipped the first two weeks of class.’ Ava said with an eyeroll and a huff.

 

Lily started laughing at that ‘Wait seriously? That’s ridiculous. She skipped the first ten percent of the classes because it’s ninety percent attendance?’ she said still laughing. ‘That’s so dumb. I think I like her.’ She managed to add between hiccups.

 

Ava smacked her friend ‘It’s not funny! And she’s not nice!’ she yelled, smacking a still laughing Lily another time for emphasis.

 

Lily squealed ‘Okay. Okay!’ she yelled, trying to get away from Ava. ‘It is kinda funny, you have to admit.’ She said after Ava stopped trying to hit her. ‘But I’m sorry she picked you as her new target. Just ignore her she’ll eventually get bored and move on. And just try not to sit next to her.’ The brunette added, a grin still on her face.

 

‘Yeah easier said than done. It is draining to ignore constant chatter in your ear and still listening to the professor and taking notes.’ Ava answered, already going over avoiding tactics in her head.

 

Ava took her education very seriously. She was here on a soccer scholarship and she couldn’t afford to let her grades slip. Seeing as Ava was never unprepared for anything, that wasn’t going to happen because she couldn’t focus as well in one class. But still, she didn’t like having to put in more effort than necessary because some blonde brat thought it was okay to harass her.

 

She decided it was best to not waste any more thoughts on the smaller blonde and she told Lily to press play again. ‘Okay but if you want to talk about it, you know I’m here. Or if you like… need someone to kick her ass. Because I will.’ The brunette said.

 

‘As much as I would love to see that, I think the ‘ignore her until she goes away’ tactic is best in this case. Besides she looks like she works out quite a lot, wouldn’t surprise me if she’s strong.’ Ava said, earning herself a raised eyebrow. ‘Annoyed, not blind.’ She added, gesturing to her own face.

 

Lily snorted, but decided to let it go as she pressed ‘play’ on the movie again.

 

‘Okay that was an amazing movie? I even liked the ending and I hate open endings with a capital H.’ Lilly exclaimed happily.

 

Ava nodded in agreement. She enjoyed the movie too. She liked the way Malorie was written and portrayed, but that could also be because she loved Sandra Bullock. The two friends talked for a while. Discussing theories on the monsters and the ending.

 

An hour later Ava yawned and stretched. ‘I’m going to make dinner; do you want me to make enough for two?’ She asked, while she stood up. Lily’s face scrunched up into a disgusted expression, ‘Nah I’m good, you eat way too healthy for my liking.’ She answered, shaking her head.

 

Ava laughed and stuck out her tongue ‘Yeah well you have to work for a godlike body.’ She joked, striking a pose for the brunette. Lily just laughed, glad Ava had cheered up a little.

 

After dinner the two friends each retreated to their own room. Ava still had some homework to do. She’d planned to do it right after she got back because she knew she would only find it harder to start the more she procrastinated. But then she’d fallen asleep, so she would just have to buckle down and see it through now.

 

It took her a long time to get it all done. The homework she had left was the one she’d gotten today in their finance class and her thoughts kept drifting to the annoying blonde. She constantly needed to look the slides of the lecture up, because she hadn’t payed as much attention as she would’ve liked. That resulted in her remembering little comments Sara had made, which caused her to blush, even now.

 

Ava didn’t understand how someone like Sara could major in something like Business. She figured Sara must major in something like that, because she was in a lot of business economics classes that Ava took, but in none of her general economics classes. But a business major wasn’t easy at all and Ava didn’t think Sara was the kind of person to put in a whole lot of work.

 

Also, in the business world everything revolves around money. You want to do as much as possible with as little means as possible. In other words, you want to do everything as efficient as possible. But Sara seemed to want to be everything but efficient.

 

The most efficient thing to do in class would be to shut up and listen, so the professor could finish talking. Sara, however, didn’t seem bothered by her wasting so much of everybody’s time.

 

Ava herself majored in Economics. She liked the way the whole world could be reduced to a few equations that you could solve. And she liked that economics could explain people’s behaviour with a few assumptions. Of course, Sara didn’t fit into any assumption within economics, but Ava figured you would also have a hard time explaining Sara’s behaviour in psychology so, there’s that.

 

With a frustrated sigh, Ava closed her textbook. She stared angrily at the wall, even when the blonde wasn’t there to antagonize her, she still managed to have it so Ava couldn’t get anything done.

 

Ava really didn’t understand what was happening to her. She thought it was logical to be rattled for some time, but she just kept mulling over those one-and-a-half hours. Each time she went over it she got more and more annoyed at herself.

 

By the time she was finally done with all her homework she was full on furious with herself. She was muttering to just stop thinking about it. To not let it get to her his much. But she didn’t have much luck. With another frustrated sigh she called it a day. She brushed her teeth, cleaned her face, called goodnight to Lily and climbed into her bed.

 

After some tossing and turning, she fell into a restless sleep, filled with dreams about piercing blue eyes and shiny blonde hair.


	2. This Ain't Ordinary Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> First of all thank you for the kudos and everything! I really appreciate it!
> 
> I think I'm going to keep Monday as updating day, but we'll see if I can keep that up.  
> I also forgot to mention a few things so I thought I'd do that now:  
> Firstly, the tags and rating will probably be updated as the story progresses, so please make sure to check the tags for any triggers anyone might have.  
> Secondly, I am not from the US, so I'm not familiar with the college/court etc systems there. I tried to google as much as possible but I also just took a lot of things from my own experience with uni where I'm from. So I apologize for any mistakes. 
> 
> Anyways, here is the second chapter, the title is from Ordinary Life, by The Weeknd.  
> This chapter is mostly background for Sara, as I said, the first two chapters felt needed to set the story, next chapter will have more Avalance I promise!
> 
> Let me know what you thought!  
> Enjoy!

‘You’re going.’ Mick Rory grunted ‘Don’t test my patience.’ He rolled his shoulders and started to turn around to signal the end of the conversation.

 

‘Why?’ Sara asked, holding her chin up defiantly. ‘I don’t need this stupid lecture to pass the course. We agreed that I’d go to that fucking place, but I’d be allowed to skip and slack off whenever I want to.’ She continued.

 

‘As long as it wouldn’t affect your grades.’ Mick grunted, turning back to fully face Sara. ‘I hate playing parent, stop testing me little one.’ He threatened straitening his back and cracking his knuckles for effect.

 

Sara almost laughed. She knew Mick could be a very dangerous man, but she also knew he would never really hurt her, even if he wanted to. Besides that, Sara also knew she could take him if they would fight hand to hand. While Mick was stronger, Sara was just too fast.

 

‘Don’t be a child Sara’ Leonard Snart drawled. ‘You know he’s right. We all agreed. You would go to college, so you would have a future, unlike the rest of us.’ He added, slowly turning his head from where he was draped over a chair.

 

‘Fine.’ Sara huffed in response. ‘I’ll go. But just so you know, this is the only course where attendance counts towards your grade, so I’ll be skipping most of the rest.’

 

She stood with her legs apart and her arms crossed in front of her chest. It could and should be seen as intimidating, but the effect was dimmed quite a bit, because she was only 5’6. Her dark blue skinny jeans disappeared in her black, leather boots and under her black leather jacket, she wore a tightfitting, long-sleeved brown shirt.

 

She and Mick stared each other down like that until Leonard sighed dramatically.

 

‘If you don’t leave now, you’ll be late.’ He drawled letting the suggestion hang in the air.

 

‘And we don’t want that now do we?’

 

Sara rolled her eyes and huffed again. ‘Fine. Fine. I’ll go!’ She said throwing up her hands in surrender.

 

Mick grunted and nodded once. ‘I need a beer.’ He said before turning around and walking towards his cabin.

 

‘I live with a bunch of children.’ Leonard sighed, before getting up out of his chair and walking after Mick.

 

Sara grinned and flipped him off before strutting back to her own cabin to get her still untouched school supplies. She grabbed her helmet too and walked towards her bike.

 

Both the bike and the helmet had been gifts from the whole gang when she turned 18 and she couldn’t suppress a smile when she looked at it. They had even made her get an official license, much to her annoyance.

 

She loved riding. Even when she couldn’t feel the wind gripping at her hair because Mick insisted she wear a helmet. Under all that hard exterior she knew he really cared about her and didn’t want her getting seriously hurt because of something as stupid as not wearing a helmet. So, she sucked it up and wore it every time she went out to ride.

 

No, she loved the feeling of freedom she got from speeding down endless empty roads. The trees whipping past her and the steady roar of her bike under her. It cleared her head and grounded her, when she felt like the world was opening up to swallow her.

 

She had even bullied her friend, Jax, into teaching her the basics of maintaining the bike, so she could make sure she took good care of it.

 

She smiled and stroked the saddle lovingly. She shook her hair out of her face before putting the helmet on. The bike roared to life under her and she pulled out of the park. The blonde grinned when she rode past Zari’s cabin, she knew the girl wouldn’t be up until way after noon, having been out all night.

 

Mick and Leonard also bullied Zari into going to college, but she chose some complicated computer science major, where most of her classes where online.

 

Zari almost never had to actually go to class and Sara was only a little jealous of her. But then she would always remember she didn’t understand shit of what Zari did and was glad she chose Business instead.

 

Math was easy for Sara. She’d always found it very logical, and never had to do much for her math courses. That’s why she chose the major that would give her mostly math, so she almost never had to study. But also made sure she wasn’t surrounded by the real math geeks.

 

Sara sighed as she rode to the college, her mind wandering towards her fucked up little family that she had come to love to death.

 

Mick had found her when she’d gotten caught trying to steal some candy when she was 8. He was 12 at the time and he’d kicked the store manager in the knee so they could run away, grabbing some more candy on their way out. They’d instantly liked each other, and he had taught her all the tricks he knew.

 

He and his then foster brother Leonard had run away from their foster parents and had been living off of petty theft and burglary. At first, they only stole to survive, but soon they discovered they had a knack for it and started doing bigger jobs.

 

They also dabbled in the drug dealing business, because that yielded a more steady income. But both of their hearts were in stealing stuff.

 

Eventually when they were 18, they’d gathered enough money to buy a piece of land and build a few cabins. Sara had been 14 at the time and in and out of foster homes since she was 8, never staying somewhere for long. The only steady factors in her life were Mick and Leonard and slowly they had become her family.

 

When they bought the land, they’d offered her a cabin and she’d accepted without having to think about it.

 

She talked to her foster parents at the time and they’d agreed to letting her live there and only showing up for the necessary meetings if she let them have the fostering pay. She had agreed instantly and had packed her bags the same day to move to the park.

 

Mick and Leonard had insisted she’d finish high school and after that, go to college because they saw she was smart and didn’t want her relying on crime like they were.

 

They’d even tried to keep her out of the life of crime completely, doing most of the jobs themselves. Sara had eventually convinced them to let her help, at first because she was still a minor, so if she got caught her punishment would be less severe.

 

Mick and Leonard had reluctantly agreed but soon found out that they made a great team. When she was about 16, she took up the drug dealing. They found out people liked buying off a pretty blonde more than gruff looking 20-year-old. She also got into clubs way easier, almost never having to stand in line when she flipped her hair and smiled sweetly.

 

That’s also how she’d met John Constantine. He’d been 17 and wanting to buy some cocaine. They ended up sleeping together, but decided that wasn’t going to work and after that just became fast friends.

 

He’d run away from  his family and after a while he started helping Sara deal the drugs he bought. Eventually Mick and Leonard had offered him a cabin too and he’d gladly accepted.

 

Leonard had found Zari Tomaz when he was buying blueprints of some impenetrable building on the dark web. Zari offered her hacking skills for a piece of the catch, and they’d discovered the three of them worked well together.

 

She also ended up living at the trailer park after they found out she lost her parents and brother in a shooting.

 

Sara had to get used to Zari at first. She’d been living with a bunch of guys for most of her life and didn’t really know how to become friends with a girl.

 

Zari on her hand lived alone for most of her life and didn’t really know how to make friends at all. She’d been really quiet for the first few weeks. But one night the guys were out having a drink and Sara and Zari found themselves alone at the park.

 

Sara had shyly asked if Zari wanted a drink and Zari accepted. After a few too many drinks later they had started talking. Story short, the guys came back to find the park covered in toilet paper, because Sara found oud Zari had never toilet papered a house before.

 

After that night all the awkwardness was swept away, and Sara and Zari found themselves becoming best friends. They’d got into a lot of trouble together, much to Leonard’s desperation, but they always managed to make it out together with a hell of a story to tell.

 

Sara smiled to herself, all of their pasts were troubled and tainted with loss, but everyone made each other stronger. Sara felt safe, knowing they would always have her back, even if she pushed them away when it got dark in her head. 

 

When she got off her bike, she took off her helmet and shook her head, so her hair wasn’t plastered to her face. She locked her helmet onto her bike and walked away with her usual swagger.

 

Guys and girls both stared at her in awe. She was used to it, something about her apparently had that effect on people. Zari said it was her easy confidence. Sara didn’t know exactly what it was, she just knew that it worked and that was enough for her.

 

She got to class quite early, which was very much unlike her. She took a seat somewhere in the middle of the lecture hall and looked through her phone to kill time. When she looked up the next time it was exactly 10 and class was about to start when a tall blonde sprinted into the lecture hall, face flustered. Sara watched her mutter an apology to the professor before turning to the only vacant seat left, right next to Sara.

 

Sara recognised her when she turned around. It was Ava Sharpe, captain of the soccer team, a straight A student and the teacher’s pet. Sara smirked to herself as she watched the taller blonde’s eyes go wide. This was going to be so much fun.

 

Sara found herself immensely enjoying flustering the taller blonde next to her. She only found it a little frustrating that Ava didn’t seem at a loss for words, the taller girl seemed to dislike all the attention Sara was giving her. Getting more and more annoyed with her as the lecture progressed.

 

That was also fine with Sara, she almost enjoyed annoying people as much as she enjoyed seducing them, but in the end,  she always wanted to do the latter. Ava, however, was not impressed.

 

Most people wouldn’t be able to turn away when Sara turned on her game, but not Ava. She seemed almost immune to it, only growing more irritated at the constant interruptions of her concentration.

 

Sara, of course, only enjoyed the way Ava’s cheeks reddened from embarrassment and annoyance and her fists clenched on the little table as the taller girl continued to try and take notes.

 

By the end of the lecture Sara was practically buzzing. Maybe this course wasn’t going to be the worst thing that had happened to her she smirked to herself.

 

‘I’ll see you Thursday.’ Sara casually said with a wink.

 

She watched Ava’s cheeks redden one more time before she turned around and walked out of the lecture hall.

 

When she got to her bike, she was feeling restless. She opened the compartment under the bike’s seat to check if the gym bag was there and smiled happily when she saw the small black sports bag.

 

Happy with herself for not being too lazy to put it back after she washed her clothes the last time she used it, she got on her bike and drove to the gym.

 

Leonard had built a small gym in the park, where they’d collected some equipment over the years, but Sara had also gotten a gym membership. Sometimes she liked following a class, because it was easier if she wanted to lose herself in a workout when someone was telling her what to do.

 

Besides that when she followed a class, she worked a higher variety of muscles than when she did a workout alone, so that was good once in a while.

 

Three hours later Sara was sweaty and panting as she gulped down some water. She had just finished a full body workout class and was now halfway through the kickboxing class that she loved. It was the hardest class and Sara was the smallest by far. But everyone was always very impressed with her.

 

She was often the one who kept going for the longest time and even now, when she’d already worked out for an hour, she could easily keep up in comparison to the others.

 

Just like riding her bike, working out helped her clear her head. But riding helped when she just wanted the world to quiet down and working out, especially boxing, helped when she wanted to get out of her head. Or when she was restless like she was now.

 

They worked the bag for the last fifteen minutes and after that every muscle Sara knew she had, had a dull ache to it. She took her time with stretching, not wanting to be extremely sore tomorrow and changed back into her normal clothes. She’d shower when she got back to the park, she didn’t really like showering at the gym.

 

Back at the park she went straight to Zari’s cabin. She figured the brunette would be up by now. She snickered at the sight in Zari’s cabin. The brunette sat hunched over coffee, with sunglasses on her eyes, even though it was practically dark inside.

 

‘Zari! How are you on this lovely day?’ Sara said in a loud sing song voice as she threw open the curtains, letting sunlight fill the cabin.

 

Zari groaned and threw some dirty socks at Sara.

 

‘Stop yelling asshole. Fuck. And close the damn curtains!!’ She whisper-yelled, trying not to hurt her head more but still convey her anger through her voice.

 

Sara just laughed and opened the window to let in some fresh air.

 

‘I’ve told you the trick to a hangover free day after, why do you never listen to me?’ She said turning around to face Zari. ‘Jesus Christ, and fix... all of that.’ She said motioning to Zari’s head.

 

‘You just pointed to all of me. Asshole.’ Zari answered, finishing the last of her coffee.

 

‘Well yeah. All of you is a mess right now. Also, you stink goddamn girl take a shower.’ Sara retorted grinning at her frowning friend.

 

‘Yeah yeah. I will. Later. When my head stops pounding.’ Zari groaned, letting her head fall into her arms completely.

 

Sara chuckled, ‘Then listen to me next time you get drunk. When you come back, just drink a lot of water. I do it and I never have a really bad hangover.’ Sara said, walking over to the table and taking a seat opposite of Zari.

 

Zari murmured something that sounded a lot like ‘I hate you’ and then said more clearly:

‘Why are you so chipper anyways. I thought Mick and Leonard forced you to go to class today.’ Zari said, turning her head in her arms so she could look at Sara.

 

‘Yeah, but then the teacher’s pet, Ava Sharpe, was forced to sit next to me, because she was almost late. I had a great time getting under her skin.’ Sara answered with a smirk.

 

That made Zari chuckle a little. ‘I can imagine, so does she want to sleep with you yet?’ She asked with a laugh.

 

Sara frowned a little then. ‘That’s the only thing, she was just really annoyed, nothing else.’ Sara said with a little pout.

 

‘But I’ll just try again next time. Thursday is the other lecture, so we’ll see by the end of that.’ She added, her smirk returning to her face.

 

Zari laughed and got up to grab her shower stuff. ‘I’m not the only one who stinks Lance.’ She said, as she threw a towel Sara’s way.

 

Sara caught it easily grinning ‘You wanna shower together Tomaz?’ she said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

 

‘Ew no get out. This is your towel, you snuck it into my laundry. Asshole.’ Zari said as she flicked her own towel at Sara. The blonde moved out of the way still laughing and walked to her own cabin to take a shower there.

 

The evening followed as usual, they had dinner together and after that Mick, Leonard and Zari left to plan their next heist. The latter still wearing sunglasses. Sara and Constantine had a few drinks together and then he left too for a night out.

 

Sara stayed up a little while longer, looking at the stars. Then she stood up stretched her tired limbs and walked back to her cabin so she could take advantage of her alcohol clouded mind and fall asleep without problems.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> The hangover trick really works for me, I always drink like 3 glasses of water when I've consumed alcohol and at most I'm a little queasy the next day I never have a headache.


	3. It Feels Good To Be Running From The Devil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> My exams are finally over! I made most of them sick but we'll deal with the results later.   
> Anyways, here is chapter 3. It's quite a bit longer than the previous two, but I coudn't quite split it. 
> 
> Let me know what you thought of it :)
> 
> Chapter title is from 'High' by Sir Sly.

By the time Wednesday was almost over, Ava was done. She was having the worst week she’d had in a while. Everything that could have gone wrong, had and by know she was this close to crying at any minor inconvenience.

 

It had gotten as bad as opening the fridge to find out there wasn’t any lettuce left, she forgot she used it in her lunch yesterday and she would have to go to the store now if she wanted to eat. It had taken her a good 15 minutes of deep breaths before she could unclench her hands and the pricking in her eyes stopped.

 

She had also been sleeping poorly and because of that hadn’t gotten around to doing all her homework. She rationally knew that it wasn’t that big of a problem, she would just need to buckle down over the weekend. But the fact that she had stuff unfinished was constantly nagging at the back of her mind, leaving her with a headache she couldn’t quite shake.

 

To add to her general college stress, was the fact she hadn’t had time to get a real workout in. She had run like she did every evening, but she felt bad for slacking off. She was the captain and she was supposed to be a role model for the rest of the team. She hoped the practice tomorrow morning would shake her out of the slump she was in.

 

On top of that, her mom had called this morning to check in on her. As usual, she had asked if Ava had found a boyfriend yet and as usual Ava had responded with ‘No mother, I’m not really the boyfriend kind.’. Her mother had asked her why she couldn’t just get over her phase, pointing out that there were plenty of nice boys around. And ava had just sighed and told her it wasn’t a phase for probably the 180th time.

 

Her parents didn’t accept that she was gay. Well, according to them, Ava should be grateful they didn’t kick her out of the house immediately when she told them, but instead tried to ‘help her back to the right path’. Ava had been 16 and scared. She had hid that part away for 2 years and moved out of that house as soon as she could.

 

Ava had met Lily in the first week of college. The brunette had accidently enrolled for a wrong course but instead of dropping out, she’d found herself enjoying it so she just stayed. She and Ava had become friends almost immediately and had moved into the apartment after their first year.

 

Lily always said she loved a person, not a gender and she had helped Ava take back her sexuality. She’d had all her firsts in that first year on campus and by now Ava was comfortable in her own skin again. She enjoyed the occasional one night stand, but ever since their second year started, she hadn’t had a lot of free time, focussing completely on soccer and her classes.

 

While Ava didn’t let her mothers comments get to her too much, every conversation left her torn between wanting to burn all bridges with her family and wanting her parents to accept her. With the phone call still swirling in her head, she’d taken all the wrong textbooks and notebooks to class and when she found out she swore loud enough for the whole class to turn around and stare at her, a shocked expression on their face.

 

She’d turned her eyes away, cheeks red in embarrassment. They were right to be shocked she usually only swore on the field. She barely ever made a sound in class and if she did it was to answer a question.

 

Her class was finished at 6 pm and she drove back to the apartment hungry and tired. She planned on making a light dinner and then just fucking everything and going to bed.

 

Apparently, the universe had other plans for her. When she opened the front door and walked through, she could already hear multiple voices coming from the living room. She groaned and shut the door, leaning against it for a moment.

 

When it felt like she wouldn’t spontaneously start laughing hysterically, she sighed and pushed herself off the door. Ava headed straight for the kitchen, passing by the living room, but ignoring the commotion there.

 

Lily was in the kitchen too, probably burning the dish she was trying to prepare. ‘heeeey Ava! I’m having a few friends over for dinner and drinks. I hope you don’t mind. I texted but you didn’t answer.’ She said, smiling apologetically at Ava’s tired expression.

 

‘It’s fine Lil.’ Ava replied, forcing a smile onto her face. ‘I’m just going to take a nap, I’m so tired I’m sure I’ll fall asleep with the noise.’ She tried to joke, small smile still on her face. She walked to the tap and poured herself some water, chugging it back immediately. ‘Have fun!’ She said, trying to sound cheerful, as she walked to her room.

 

She shut the door and barely took her shoes off before falling down on her bed. She fell asleep almost immediately.

 

When she woke up again, it was 9.30 pm, and for once, her head felt a little clearer. She was still a bit tired but she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore, until Lily’s friends were gone.

 

She got out of bed, put her headphones on and opened her textbook. ‘Micheal meets Mozart’ by ‘The Piano Guys’ came on and she sighed contently, letting the cello tones shut out the voices of Lily and her friends.

 

She threw herself in her homework and a few hours later she had actually finished most of it. Her mind quieted down a bit. Sadly, unlike the other people in her home, whose voices just got louder and louder.

 

It was a little past midnight and Ava thought she should really and get some sleep. After all, tomorrow she had soccer practise again and that required her to get up at 6. She groaned at the thought, worry immediately flooding her system again.

 

Ava jumped up, restlessly pacing up and down her room. She was glad she’d gotten a big chunk of her homework done before the worry crept into her veins again, but she didn’t know how to shut it out now.

 

Normally, she would just try to sleep and hope it would be better in the morning, but she was wide awake and the laughter that spilled from other parts of the apartment didn’t help. She decided she couldn’t stay here. Maybe a bit of fresh air would help and after that she would be able to sleep for a few hours.

 

Why did she have to be so stupid to take a nap in the evening. She was supposed to be watching her health. Having a regular sleep schedule and eating healthy were major parts of that, and she had done neither.

 

She grabbed her keys and a blanket and walked to her car. She was driving before she really had a plan, but she decided it wasn’t a bad idea to just drive around aimlessly. After an hour or so, she found she recognised this road. It was the way to the beach and she smiled to herself. Apparently Ava knew exactly what she needed.

 

She took off her shoes and walked barefoot on the beach. The cold sand between her toes grounding her. Ava wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and sat down. She looked at the stars and listened to the waves. She imagined all her worry rolling back into the sea with the tide and was actually able to relax a little.

 

Before she knew it, the sun was starting to rise. She looked at her phone and saw it was already 5.30 am. Ava laughed quietly, this was all extremely unlike her and she didn’t know what had gotten over her.  She promised herself to fix her sleeping schedule next week.

 

She had used this time in the sand to try and put her feelings into words that she could analyse. That way, she could try to separate irrational worry, from things she should actually be worried about. It had worked for the most part and by the time the sun was fully up, she felt a lot better.

 

It was 6.30 when she got back to her car. She smiled at herself, because the textbooks she had wrongly packed yesterday contained the stuff she needed for today’s lecture and she had forgotten to take her bag into the apartment with her. She too, always kept a backup bag in the car with some soccer gear for emergencies like this. Today seemed to start out quite well. Although, yesterday never really ended, since she hadn’t slept. She climbed behind the wheel and started driving to her soccer practise.

 

 

 

 

‘Saaaaaraaaa!’ Zari whined, way too close to her face. Sara’s face scrunched up and she grumbled incoherently as she tried to roll away from Zari.

 

Zari sighed and climbed on top of Sara. ‘Yeah well I don’t like it either, but Leonard didn’t trust us to go to the lecture ourselves. So, he woke me up and he’s making us go before they have to leave.’ She said, shaking Sara lightly.

 

Leonard wasn’t exactly wrong. Sara hadn’t set any type of alarm and her lecture was at 10. She groaned and rolled back onto her back, making Zari almost fall off. ‘Fine. What time is it?’ She said, rubbing her eyes in a futile attempt to get them to open.

 

Zari coughed and looked at her sheepishly. ‘Well, 6.30?’ She said, she was glad Sara lost muscle strength in the mornings. ‘Oh and we have to leave in half an hour, or Mick is going to drag you out of bed himself. Okay good talk Bye.’ Zari added, jumping off the bed and quickly walking out the door.

 

The pillow hit the door just after Zari had closed it. Sara huffed, this was so unfair. Both girls didn’t have class until 10, what where they supposed to do until then. She huffed again and rolled on her side.

 

After 10 more minutes she had debated all the pro’s and con’s of not getting up, but she knew Mick didn’t make threats unless he planned on executing. She huffed again and rolled out of bed.

 

Sara was outside with her helmet and keys at exactly 7. Leonard rolled his eyes and lazily motioned for her to get lost, so they could go too. Zari was already seated on her own bike and started the engine when she saw Sara walking towards her.

 

‘I haven’t even had coffee yet.’ Sara sighed. ‘Where are we even going?’ she yelled a little louder to Zari over the roar of her engine.

 

‘I thought we could just go to the campus and have coffee there.’ Zari yelled back, pulling out of the park after she saw Sara nod. Sara quickly rode after her and soon they were racing to see who could get there first.

 

Sara won, of course, her recklessness always giving her an advantage in these kinds of situations. Zari parked her bike next to her ‘I don’t understand how do you do that?’ She asked, shaking her head in frustration.

 

‘Oh it’s easy. You just have to stop caring whether you live or die.’ Sara answered with a smirk and a wink. ‘Come on let’s get coffee, otherwise I’ll fall asleep again right here.’

 

Zari rolled her eyes. ‘God, you’re so dramatic.’ She sighed and punched the blonde on her arm. She immediately danced away with a grin on her face, after the threatening look Sara gave her.

 

Zari could handle herself in a fight, the gang made sure of that, but she was better at fighting from behind a screen. While Sara was trained in more martial arts than Zari knew the name of. She knew it helped the blonde clear her head and the gang only ever encouraged it. It came in pretty handy that Sara could fight them out of most situations, should they ever need it.

 

Plus when they would be dealing in a club or something they didn’t have to worry about Sara getting robbed or attacked or anything like that. They were often more worried for Constantine. That man had as much a knack for getting into trouble as Sara had, but not as much of a knack for getting out if it too.

 

Zari was eternally grateful she’d found this family. She’d probably never let them know but she secretly adored each and everyone of them. If it wasn’t for them she’d probably still be living out of some dudes basement, doing petty hacking jobs to keep herself alive.

 

Coffee in hand the two girls walked aimlessly on campus, talking about any and everything as they waited for their lecture to start. Eventually they decided to sit down on the bleachers next to the training fields, just as the girls soccer team came out of the school gym for training.

 

‘Well this morning just got a whole lot better.’ Sara said, smirking.

 

Zari rolled her eyes and was about to drag Sara away, because she didn’t feel anything for being seen as creeps, when her eye fell on a beautiful brunette. She figured there wouldn’t be any harm in staying to enjoy the view a little longer.

 

 

 

 

‘We’re being watched Captain.’ Amaya said to Ava when they finished running laps. ‘Shall we do what we normally do with watchers?’ She continued, grinning wolfishly.

 

When people thought it was okay to just sit and watch them train they’d usually give them the choice to either do sprints with them or leave. Most of the time, people chose the latter, not feeling up for running at top speed across a field. The few times people took them up on the offer, mostly boys who thought they’d could outrun them and score a date in the process, ended up on their knees gasping for air.

 

Ava hesitated for a moment, she hadn’t slept the whole night and skipped most of her workouts, so she wasn’t exactly in good shape. After a few pleading looks from Amaya, she turned around to face the people sitting on the bleachers. She was about shout the offer to them, when froze, because she recognised the smirking face. Sara Lance grinned and waved at her when she saw Ava looking. The girl seated next to her gave Sara a weird look and asked something. Without taking her eyes off of Ava she answered the girl, who rolled her eyes and shook her head.

 

‘What are you waiting for Cap?’ Amaya asked, eyes trained on the brunette next to Sara. ‘For once I actually hope they take us up on it.’ She added a smirk playing at her lips.

 

Ava laughed at that and motioned for Amaya to come with her. Together they jogged towards the bleachers. Ava secretly hoped they would take them up on it too, she might not be in top condition today, but she didn’t think anyone would be able to beat her at sprints. The team could never keep up with her, let alone Sara Lance. Besides, she would love to see Sara struggling for breath after a few sprints. She felt that would be sufficient payback for all the interruptions last time they saw each other.

 

 

 

 

Zari’s eyes went wide as she saw the beautiful brunette and the girl Sara had been annoying, apparently, jogging towards them. ‘Shit Sara, I told you this was a bad idea.’ She said, already starting to get up, but the blonde pulled her back down again.

 

‘Aaava, hey.’ She drawled, when the two soccer girls where within earshot.

 

The taller blonde grimaced. ‘We don’t really like watchers. We always give them the choice to join us for sprints or leave. So what will it be.’ Ava said, her voice clipped.

 

Zari almost choked on her coffee. ‘Yeah, no thanks. We’ll be leaving.’ She brought out between coughs.

 

Sara just waved her away. ‘Technically you can’t make us leave, we are not doing anything wrong.’ She said, smirking.

 

‘Well, our coach found that people watching for their own enjoyment wasn’t really motivating for us, so he pulled some strings and now he can, actually, make you leave.’ Ava said with a content grin. ‘Unless of course you want to run.’ She added.

 

‘Fine, even though your coach isn’t even here right now. But what do I get if I can keep up?’ Sara asked, that stupid smirk still on her face. Ava scoffed at that. Oh how she was going to enjoy wiping that smirk off her face.

 

‘Wha- no I’m not part of this. I’m leaving.’ Zari said, standing up and looking at Sara as if she’d gone mad.

 

Ava noticed Amaya almost pouted at that, and decided to help her teammate a little. ‘That won’t happen I assure you.’ She said to Sara. ‘You can stay and watch your friend fail miserably.’ She added to the brunette. ‘Spare shirts and shorts are over there.’ She said to Sara again, pointing to a bag that was lying to the side.

 

Sara smirked as she walked to the back and shamelessly took off her pants and shirt to put on the spare gym clothes. Zari whispered an ‘oh my god’ and let her hands fall back into her head. She looked up again to find the beautiful brunette still looking at her. ‘I feel obligated to warn you that Sara is in pretty good shape, don’t promise her anything you can’t deliver.’ She said still shaking her head at her friend. ‘I’m Zari, by the way.’ She added, smiling shyly.

 

‘Amaya.’ The brunette answered, grinning back at her. ‘And don’t worry she’ll never be faster than Ava.’ Amaya added.

 

‘I doubt that, she is pretty fast. Apparently she finds running relaxing. Why is beyond me.’ Zari answered, a smile playing at her lips.

 

‘Okay. Wanna bet?’ Amaya said ‘If Ava is faster, I get to take you out on a date.’ She continued. Looking up at the other brunette hopefully.

 

Zari choked on her coffee for the second time at the forwardness of Amaya. But figuring she had nothing to lose she agreed, grinning at Amaya and walking down the bleachers to join her on the field.

 

In the mean time Sara had been jumping up and down in order to get her muscles to loosen up. She’d pointed out it was unfair if Ava didn’t let her warm up first, so Ava had agreed to postpone the sprints for a little while, so Sara could warm up.

 

After Sara found she’d warmed up sufficiently, she joined ava and the rest of the team. ‘Okay, I’m ready when you are.’ She said, grinning.

 

Ava rolled her eyes, but clapped in her hands to get everyone’s attention. ‘Alright! We’re going to do sprints. I want everything at 100% No slacking!’ She said, voice loud enough so everyone could hear her. ‘first 50 metres. Jog back to the starting line. Repeat 4 times. Then the same with 100 metres. Then finally with 200 metres.’ Ava said.

 

The whole team groaned in surprise. They usually only did these intense sprinting exercises closer to a game. Ava smiled to herself, that would teach Sara a lesson. Sara just smiled contently, this was worse than she did herself, but she believed she could keep up if she tried. Besides, she notices Ava had bruises under her eyes from sleep deprivation, so she figured the taller blonde wasn’t in optimal shape.

 

They lined up, Ava making sure she was next to Sara, so she could see the smirk disappearing. Ava counted down and the team shot forward as one making it to the 50 metres mark in no time. They jogged back and repeated it 4 times.

 

Ava didn’t expect Sara to lag behind immediately. She figured out the blonde was smart enough to only accept a challenge she believed she could win. What she hadn’t expected, however, was the fact Sara outran most of her team. The difference in speed was starting to show around the second time they did the 100 metres. By now everyone except Sara and Ava were breathing heavily and they didn’t finish as one like they had with 50 metres.

 

By the time the team did the first 200 metres, some were panting hard. Ava and Sara were breathing heavily too. Ava was extremely surprised that Sara was still keeping up with her. Ava was really giving it her all and she was fast, even on a bad day. But the other blonde seemed unfazed and could keep up fairly easy.

 

‘Didn’t expect me to last this long, Sharpe?’ Sara grinned as they were jogging back. Ava all but growled, annoyed that she couldn’t easily outrun the blonde.

 

By the time they were getting ready for the last 200 metres sprint, a few were doubled over and everyone else was gasping for breath.

 

‘Want to raise the stakes Sharpie?’ Sara got out between pants. ‘If I cross that line first, you have to do the team assignment with me. I could use someone smart.’ She added stretching her arms out above her head to get more air into her lungs. Her shirt rode up a little and Ava could see hard abs poking out from underneath.

 

She looked away quickly ‘Deal, but if I win, you don’t sit next to me in class anymore.’ Ava replied ‘Then maybe I can concentrate again.’ She added, grumbling.

 

‘Oh? Do I distract you Miss Sharpe?’ Sara retorted, smirking again.

 

Ava rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue, before counting down. At the ‘go!’ both girls shot forward, leaving the rest of the team behind immediately. It was close but in the end Sara won by a few centimetres. Both girls doubled over, panting hard and after Sara’s heartbeat calmed down a little, she whooped, victoriously.

 

‘Looks like I have a new partner!’ Sara yelled happily.

 

Ava’s face was thunderous. But she wasn’t a sore loser and she was sure as hell not going to make excuses for her losing. So, she congratulated Sara on her win and said she wanted to plan a date to work on the assignment. Sara might have thought she was getting off easy with Ava as partner, but that was a mistake. Ava didn’t let anybody slack off ever, and she certainly wasn’t about to start.

 

 

 

 

On the other side of the field, Zari walked shyly up to where Amaya sat pouting on the ground, still breathing a bit hard. ‘So, I was thinking. Since you got to take me out on a date if Ava won, do I get to take you out on a date, now that Sara won?’ Zari asked, looking into Amaya’s eyes.

 

Zari watched a grin spread out onto Amaya’s face. ‘You most certainly can.’ She said, smiling from ear to ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed!


	4. If there's a rule, I will bend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> This chapter is pretty much a filler and shorter than the previous one, but I had a lot of fun writing it so I hope you still enjoy!  
> Let me know what you thought, what you liked/didn't like or what you would like to see happen, if you want of course :)
> 
> Title is from My Signature Move by P!nk.

The team still had half an hour left of the training, so Ava chucked a towel at Sara and pointed towards the gym building.

 

‘Aww, but I wanted to shower _with_ you.’ Sara drawled, winking.

 

Ava desperately tried to keep the blush from forming on her cheeks, but to no avail. She cleared her throat. ‘well, that’s too bad, I still have half an hour of training left.’ She started. ‘I mean like not tha – uh – not too bad for me. Too bad for – for you cause you – It’s great for me!’ Ava hackled, tripping over her words.

 

Sara smirked her annoying smirk and winked another time, before turning around and walking towards the building with a little extra sway in her hips.

 

‘Jerk!’ Ava yelled after her. She turned back to find her team all grinning at her with knowing looks in their eyes. Ava rolled her eyes at them.

 

‘Shut up.’ She snapped at Karin, their goalie, as she started to open her mouth to probably make a comment on the redness on Ava’s cheeks.

 

Karin just threw her hands up in an innocent manner, still grinning at her. ‘Just wanted to ask what the next exercise was Cap.’ She said, a playful lilt to her voice.

 

Ava just grumbled something nobody could understand and then loudly stated they were doing dribbling drills for the rest of the training.

 

At 9.30, Ava walked out of the gym building, still damp hair thrown up in a sloppy ponytail.  She planned to get a coffee before going to class, after all she still had half an hour to spare. Her plans were rudely interrupted, when none other than Sara Lance sat perched up on a stone wall.

 

She was dressed in all black. Tight fitting jeans, leather boots and a long sleeved shirt that hugged her figure. The only piece of clothing that wasn’t black, was her coat. It was a long, grey wool coat, that she wore with the buttons undone. Her blonde hair was loose and quickly drying in wild waves that flowed around her cheeks and down her shoulders.

 

Was Sara now seriously waiting on her? Ava thought to herself, rolling her eyes in the process.

 

Ava liked more loose clothing when she’d just finished training. She was wearing slim jeans, that followed her curves, but didn’t hug them tight and a plain, navy shirt that hung around her body. The rolled up sleeves were hidden underneath a brown leather jacket.

 

Ava attempted to just ignore the blonde and walk past her quickly, but Sara noticed her and jumped off the wall to walk next to her.

 

Ava couldn’t help but smirk, satisfied with herself that the smaller girl had to almost jog to keep up with her long strides. Sara let out an annoyed huff and Ava decided not to slow down.

 

‘Jesus Sharpe, class doesn’t start for another 30 minutes, you’re not gonna be late if you slow down a little, damn.’ She sneered, annoyance clearly written on her face. ‘I just wanted to make sure you really planned on sticking to the bet and partner up with me for that project.’ She added, the sincerity in her voice making Ava slow down. A tad.

 

Ava gave Sara a sideways glance. ‘No, you won fair and square. This time. I’ll honour the bet. It’s honestly a mistake on your part. I never half-ass anything and I expect you to put in equal amounts of work. Otherwise I will go to the professor and have her switch me.’ She answered, sternly.

 

The usual smirk was back on Sara’s face. ‘Sir. Yes Sir.’ She said, mock saluting Ava.

 

Ava rolled her eyes again. She was going to make her eyes hurt with the amount of eyerolling that was necessary when she was around Sara.

 

‘I’m going to grab a coffee before heading to class, so I’ll see you there I guess.’ Ava said, moving to head right instead of straight to the lecture hall.

 

‘What a coincidence! I wanted to grab a coffee too, I guess we are still going the same way.’ Sara grinned, feigning surprise. ‘You probably need it too, seeing as you’ve barely slept.’ She added, turning her head to look at Ava.

 

The taller blonde rubbed her eyes self-consciously. ‘You don’t look so well rested yourself, Lance.’ She retorted.

 

‘Yeah, that’s why I’m getting coffee.’ Sara deadpanned.  ‘But I’m not an athlete. Aren’t athletes supposed to be all responsible and healthy?’ She added. She kept her voice light and teasing, but Ava saw the questioning eyes.

 

‘Is Sara Lance asking me a genuine question? I thought her mouth could only smirk and make annoying remarks.’ Ava shot back.

 

‘Oh, Sara Lance’s mouth can do a lot of other things too.’ Sara responded, smiling sweetly at Ava, as she held the door to the campus coffee store open for her.

 

Ava walked through the door quickly before Sara could see the blush that crept on her face. She really needed to get herself under control. She was blushing like a teenager every time Sara said something remotely flirty. She couldn’t seem to ever one up Sara, the girl always had some smart retort.

 

The blushing really undermined her disinterested façade and Sara could obviously tell, so she didn’t let up. And now she had to partner with the smaller girl. She really needed a game plan for the following weeks she was still in Sara’s class.

 

She was gay, she could see Sara was extremely attractive, with her big blue eyes and her charming smile and easy confidence. But she also knew girls like Sara.

 

Girls like Sara were never looking for anything serious. They only wanted quick and fun. They would draw you in with their teasing and after they got what they wanted, they would drop you like it was nothing. Ava had fallen for it quite some times in the past year and she sure as hell wasn’t going to let it happen again.

 

She decided her best bet was just to ignore any and all attempts at flirtation and just keep their interactions strictly class related. That proved to be quite difficult, as almost everything that came out of Sara’s mouth, the rest of the way to class, was flirty. Or had her rolling her eyes in exasperation.

 

They entered the lecture hall together and even though Ava knew Sara would sit next to her, she hoped against better judgement that the blonde would take a seat somewhere else.

 

‘What? We have to choose the topic of the project today. And we are partners after all.’ Sara said, feigning innocence as she sat down next to Ava. Ava just sighed and rolled her eyes again.

 

The first half of the lecture actually went by pretty easy. I mean, Sara didn’t stop her annoying comments. But Ava thought she was physically incapable of restraining herself from speaking for more than a few minutes.

 

In the quarter hour break, Sara retrieved some mandarins from her bag. She noticed Ava looking at them with barely concealed surprise on her face.

 

‘Do you want one? You’re looking at them as if you can make them float over there with your mind’ Sara snickered.

 

Ava scrunched up her face. ‘No thanks. Firstly, I hate fruit. I was looking at them with disgust in my eyes. Secondly, I’m just surprised you can manage to eat some vitamins.’ She retorted.

 

Sara gaped at her. ‘What do you mean you hate fruit? All fruit? How could you hate fruit, that’s ridiculous!’ She said, outrage clearly written on the blonde’s face. ‘What do you eat then?’ Sara almost yelled.

 

‘What do you mean what do I eat? Like vegetables? Potatoes?’ Ava answered, annoyed that Sara was making such a big deal out of this.

 

‘But you need vitamins?!’ Sara continued, still extremely outraged.

 

‘Why do you care so much about me not liking fruit? It’s not like they’re the only source of vitamin!’ Ava shot back, starting to feel self-conscious about her dislike for fruit.

 

‘But they’re a big source! You would need to eat a lot more vegetables! You’re an athlete!’ Sara continued, not letting up, she loved this new discovered flaw in Ava Sharpe’s seemingly perfect life.

 

‘And I became an athlete without eating fruit. I really don’t see the problem here.’ Ava said, crossing her arms protectively in front of her.

 

 ‘Well’ Sara said smiling, still confused, but also weirdly impressed. ‘Guess you’re not so perfect after all.’

 

Ava huffed. ‘I bet there are things you have a weird dislike or love for.’ She said, trying gain the upper hand.

 

‘So you admit that your dislike for fruit is weird?’ She said with a wink, not letting Ava one up her. It was probably childish, but Sara liked riling Ava up, it was fun. The only people who didn’t take her bullshit were Zari, Mick and Snart. And now Ava too. Well she tried at least, not that it was easy to gain the upper hand in a conversation with Sara Lance.

 

Most people just giggled and blushed and while frustrating, it was also extremely intriguing that Ava didn’t. She also knew that Ava didn’t hate it, even as she pretended she did, which made it all the more fun.

 

The lecture continued for another 20 minutes and then the professor had them pick topics for their project. They were free to leave after that. With the project they were expected to analyse the financial pros and cons of something within a business.

 

‘Okay let’s do this quick so we can get out of here. I already made a list in advance. So could you look it over and tell me which one you like the most?’ Ava said, handing Sara the list she made.

 

‘You got somewhere to be Sharpe?’ If Ava wanted to do this quickly, naturally Sara was going to drag it out as long as possible.

 

She cleared her throat and pulled the sheet of paper Ava gave her, closer to her face. Within two minutes she had picked the one she liked most. Efficiency wages. It would be pretty fun to conduct a financial analysis of efficiency wages as there were a lot of pros and cons to it. But it wouldn’t have them caught up in politics, which Sara absolutely hated, or something that involved analysing the consumers’ behaviour.

 

Instead of letting Ava know directly and getting out of this lecture, she slowly read the list twice, humming and nodding at random points. By the time she started her third readthrough, Ava was impatiently fidgeting next to her.

 

Sara smirked to herself. ‘I can’t think when you’re breathing down my neck like that. Now while that could be a good thing. Right now you wanted me to pick a topic yeah?’ She said, never missing an opportunity to make an inappropriate comment.

 

Ava huffed, but couldn’t stop the blush from rising to her cheeks. ‘Fuck Sara, you’re the kind of girl that immediately knows that they want. I don’t believe that you haven’t picked a topic yet. Unless you think they all suck, in which case I’d like to hear your suggestions.’ She said, letting the annoyance she felt seep into her voice.

 

Ava was right, of course, but Sara wasn’t going to let her know that. She slowly put the page down. ‘It’s a great list, I would like to discuss some topic a bit more extensively.’

 

Ava suppressed another eyeroll, if Sara really had some concerns, she should hear her out. After 15 minutes, almost everyone had left the lecture hall already and Ava was growing more and more frustrated.

 

‘Is everything alright here? Have you been able to pick a topic?’ The professor asked, from right beside their seats.

 

Ava had been so focused on her irritation, she hadn’t even seen her coming. She was about to say something about how they hadn’t, in fact, succeeded in picking a topic, because her partner was apparently incapable of making choices.

 

‘Yes! We picked efficiency wages as a topic.’ Sara said smoothly. Ava gaped at her, nostrils flaring as she tried very hard not to scream.

 

The professor hummed. ‘You know what they say, “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”.’ She said, turning around and walking towards another couple, who hadn’t been able to decide either.

 

Sara kept her smile on her face until the professor was completely turned away from them and then her brow furrowed in confusion. She turned to Ava and was about to ask her, but she was interrupted by the harsh voice of the taller blonde.

 

‘You. Are unbelievable.’ Ava hissed under her breath as she shoved her stuff into her bag and stormed out of the lecture hall.

 

Sara scrambled to get her stuff and ran after her. ‘Wait. Ava! Is that good or bad?’ She said, slightly out of breath as she caught up to the taller girl outside the building.

 

‘You being unbelievable? That is most certainly a bad thing!’ Ava said. ‘We’ll make a plan on Monday okay? Right now I just want to go home and sleep for a few hours.’ She could taste the sleep on her tongue and she felt another headache starting behind her eyes.

 

‘What? No! About the monkeys!’ Sara answered. ‘The prof said something about peanuts and monkeys when she was talking about our topic and then you got mad. Was it a bad choice? Did the thing about the monkeys mean we made a bad choice?’

 

Ava was quiet for a few seconds and then just burst out laughing.

 

‘What? What’s so funny? I thought you were really pissed! Do you know what it means?’ she said, confusion and amusement now both showing in her eyes. Ava had a beautiful laugh if she was honest. Unrestrained and heartily, and Sara decided she wouldn’t mind to hear it more often.

 

Ava just shook her head laughing, a few strands of hair coming loose from her ponytail and falling down her cheeks. Sara wasn’t often caught off guard and the fear and utter confusion on the smaller blondes face had her shaking.

 

‘It means that when you pay a low salary, you don’t get good workers.’ Ava said, still grinning. ‘The professor was just quoting something relevant to the topic we – well you –   chose.’

 

Sara’s shoulders sagged in relief. ‘Oh. okay good.’

 

Ava tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow at Sara. ‘You don’t seem like the type to let something the professor said get into your head. Why did you literally chase me to ask if it was bad?’

 

Sara shifted uncomfortable, eyes not really focussing on anything.

 

‘I – I just – The professor said that and right after you were like ‘you’re unbelievable’.’ Sara started, imitating Ava’s annoyed voice, which got her another glare from the taller blonde.

 

‘No, but you sounded really mad and like. It’s fun to annoy you. You aren’t like most people. You bite back. But you sounded upset when I told the professor we’d pick efficiency wages and I thought you were seriously mad and I didn’t want that.’

 

Sara was still not really looking at Ava, a small blush started forming on her cheeks. If Ava would be honest with herself, she would find it sort of adorable.

 

Instead Ava threw the smaller blonde another stern glare, taking full advantage of Sara’s uncomfortableness.

 

‘And you couldn’t just have said so the moment you decided you wanted to do the topic efficiency wages? Also. Why would I put it on the list if I didn’t want it.’

 

Sara quickly looked at Ava, trying to gauge how serious Ava was in her annoyance. Sara wasn’t used to this feeling of embarrassment and guilt at having upset the taller blonde. While Ava’s glare was murderous and  terrifying to most people, but Sara could see the amusement shining behind it.

 

‘As I said. It’s fun to push you. You bite back, and I’ve always liked women who bite’ She said with a wink.

 

Ava sighed and rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that morning.

 

‘Fucking hell Lance. I’ll see you Monday.’ She said before walking away, leaving a smirking Sara behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! :)


	5. Pocket Full of Yellow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> This chapter is again a bit longer. It'll probably keep switching so don't get used to anything hahah.  
> Uni started again today, so I'll have less time to write. Hopefully I can manage and still update once a week. I'll try! 
> 
> Let me know what you think, if you want of course :)
> 
> You can also hit me up on tumblr if you want: [unlocktherainbow](http://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/) For some reason my blog doesn't show up when you search for it so idk how to fix that but you can click the link haha or you can also always leave your username in the comments and I'll find you! 
> 
> Suggestions and constructive critisism are also very welcome :)
> 
> Anyways enjoy! (hopefully)  
> Title is from 'Gold' By Sir Sly
> 
> Edit: I updated the rating to M. I was in doubt bc of the drug references but idk I want to be safe so yeah. M rating it is

The two weeks following their last encounter, Ava spent most of her time on college and getting back into a healthy rhythm. She consequently went to sleep at 10 and got up 6, so she could make the most of her days.

 

Usually, on days when she didn’t have soccer practise, she started her day by working out for half an hour or so, it made her feel energized and ready to take on the day. Her classes started at 9, so she filled the rest of her morning with a mug of coffee and a book, which she read on their balcony with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

 

She liked to call herself a morning person, Lily liked to call her a crazy person.

 

Having her day start bright and early, meant that she had most afternoons off. Only on Wednesdays did her classes last until 3, the rest of the days she only had one or two classes. Most of her free time was devoted to college either way, she was always on top off her own homework, but she also got a job at the administration office at the start of this semester. She mostly ordered files and answered emails, but it was a good start at building work experience and provided a bit of income.

 

A lot of time also went into the soccer team, they did quite some group activities to build morale and as their captain, Ava was expected to attend all of them. Because of that, she was close with the whole team, especially Amaya. The girl was thoughtful and helpful, but didn’t sugar-coat anything. She told it like it was and Ava had a lot of respect for her. The feeling was mutual and the two girls started hanging out a lot.

 

Lily also took a liking to Amaya and welcomed her to their apartment just as much as Ava did. She also trained their goalie, Karin, this year and found that the intimidating girl was a big softie underneath it all. She was just as gay as Ava and they bonded over their mutual struggles with unaccepting families.

 

To say Ava did a lot, was an understatement. The people in her life didn’t understand how she could fit all of it in the same amount of hours they had in their life. But Ava loved being busy, it made her feel like she had some purpose. She couldn’t sit still for long, it made her feel useless and restless.

 

All in all, Ava felt like she was back on track, she was eating healthy, sleeping regularly and on top of all her classes again instead of just managing to keep up.

 

 

 

 

Sara had a very different week.

 

Naturally, Sara didn’t spent any time on college, she figured she had enough time to study the evening before the exam, like she usually did. She only went to the classes that were absolutely necessary for getting the full grade.

 

No, Sara and Constantine spent two weeks trying to expand their little illegal trade. A new club was opening up this Friday and that meant a new business area that every gang close to wanted a piece of.

 

This meant Sara and Constantine needed to step it up. They needed to secure entrance in the club on opening night, get on the owners good side. Since every gang was doing this, it stirred things up and had caused a lot of faceoffs.

 

It was mostly small gangs like them who were interested in such small clubs, but it still meant competition, competition that Sara felt in a few bruised ribs and a black eye that even a fuckload of concealer couldn’t fix.

 

But Sara never backed down, she was scary on her own, but combined with the rest of the gang, they weren’t easy to ignore.

 

They even made a name for themselves, on their latest encounter with the Darhks. The Darhks were their rivals, so to speak, they were the only other gang big enough to be a threat but small enough to mingle in these kinds of small affairs, like a new club opening up.

 

Damien Darhk was beating up some other small dealer when Sara and Constantine showed up and ruined the fun.

 

‘Sara, I see you’re still a bit sore from last time we saw each other. Why can’t you just die? It’d be a lot easier for me.’ Damien Darhk had uttered, throwing his hands up in mock exasperation, pretending that he thought Sara could ever be an actual threat.

 

Sara had just smirked and cocked her head to the side. ‘Because, Damien. Legends never die.’ She had stated clearly and confidently. Constantine had snickered and wiped his mouth before tensing up to throw the first punch. Sara had just held up her hand to stop him and winked before getting her small throwing knife and hurling it straight into Damien’s bicep.

 

After that, their gang was known as ‘the Legends’, and if they were honest, they were starting to take a liking to the name. Zari had already prepared about a million, as she called them ‘badass punchlines’ involving their new name. That was in itself a joke, as Zari told them enthusiastically, because you would say that line right before you punch the guy, making it a punch-line.

 

Sara rolled her eyes, but was barely able to contain her laughter and even Mick grunted approvingly with an amused twinkle in his eye.

 

 

 

 

Ava and Sara saw each other exactly four times in those two weeks, they still had their shared class. The first time Ava had made a planning of everything they would need to do for their project. Sara had rolled her eyes, because the planning very obviously left room for screwups – Sara’s screwups – Sara assumed.

 

Ava just smirked and gave her a look that said ‘prove me wrong then’. Sara found herself very much conflicted between indeed proving Ava wrong, which was of course exactly what the taller blonde wanted, and screwing up just to prove a point, thereby proving Ava right.

 

This was exactly the way one should deal with Sara Lance, but it was also the way no one ever dealt with Sara Lance. And frankly, Sara Lance didn’t know how to deal with it.  

 

The next time, Sara tried very hard to keep her black eye from showing too much. She even went as far not to sit next to Ava in their class, which immediately alerted Ava that something was up. Sara never passed up the opportunity to flirt with and annoy Ava.

 

After class Ava caught up with Sara under the pretence of wanting to check Sara was keeping to the schedule for their project. Ava’s eyes had gone wide at the discolouration, that was very visible from close by. Sara had shrugged it off, saying she had an intense sparring session at her boxing class. For some reason Ava didn’t completely believe her.

 

The third time, Sara had doubled her efforts in annoying the taller blonde, perhaps trying to make up for something. Ava had rolled her eyes many times, inquiring why the smaller blonde couldn’t leave her alone just like last time. Sara just smirked, stating Ava didn’t really mind. When Ava started to utter her disagreement, Sara just pointed out the fact Ava chased her after class to ‘check if she was keeping to her planning.’

 

Ava tried to argue that in order to fix Sara’s inevitable screwups, she would need to check in to see if said screwups were happening already. Sara had just shot her a knowing look followed with a wink and moved back to flirty remarks.

 

It was pretty admirable that Ava still found strength to ignore the other girl’s flirting. Ava seemed to be only getting stronger and better at resisting it. Maybe it was because she could almost predict what Sara was going to say.

 

The last time they saw each other, Sara seemed distracted. She wasn’t her quick and witty self and didn’t take every opportunity make Ava blush. Ava found it quite unsettling, but after what happened last time she called Sara out on it, she thought it was best to let it go for now.

 

She did tell Sara to stop bouncing her leg and fidgeting with her hands. Multiple times. Not that Sara would ever listen to her, but she figured she could keep trying. Sara seemed somewhere lost in her head, not paying attention to what happened around her and Ava thought she could just sit back and enjoy the silence this granted her.

 

Sara was indeed lost in her head. Tomorrow night was the opening of the Waverider, and Sara was going over the last details of their game plan. They would need to quickly make as many ‘friends’ as possible and get them to buy their stuff and not that of someone else.

 

This was key, because a new club attracted new kind of people. New kind of people meant new kind of customers. New customers liked to go back to their first dealer if they had a good experience with the drugs. Sara never understood why, but she guessed it made them feel safe, if they felt like they knew the dealer. Therefore it was key to get them to buy from them first.

 

They agreed to have Sara and Constantine both dealing and Zari being there to keep an eye on them and anyone else.

 

It wasn’t like Sara was nervous, she didn’t get nervous, she just did the thing that needed doing and then moved on. But things like this required adequate preparation and that meant Sara needed to concentrate on that instead of Ava for today. There would be plenty other opportunities to antagonize the taller blonde later.

 

 

 

 

‘Ava… please come with us?’ Amaya whined for the third time that evening.

 

‘Yea Aves come on it will be fun! You need to let loose lady, get them hips swingin’, ass shakin’. Come on pretty please with Jesus on top?’ Lily helpfully added.

 

Ava silently looked at Lily for a few seconds, face hiding none of her confusion.

 

‘I don’t understand half the things you say on a daily basis Lil. What the actual fuck?’

 

Before Lily could open her mouth to answer Amaya got in between them, hands defensively up.

 

‘Ava it’s just. Zari invited me and she said I could bring two people and she’d get us in. I actually really like her Aves, but I really want you there with me. Just please? It’ll be good for you too. As much as I don’t agree with Lily’s choice of words, she’s right. You’ve been doing so much lately, it can’t hurt to let your hair down for a night.’ Amaya said, eyes pleading with Ava.

 

The blonde rolled her eyes.

 

‘Fine. But I’m not getting drunk! And neither are you Amaya! We need to be in good shape for soccer.’

 

Amaya looked at Lily, uncertain of what to say, but had to look away quickly when Lily made a ‘bla bla bla’ movement with her hands and rolled her eyes.

 

‘Right yea. Sure Ava. Just a few drinks. Will do.’ Amaya said more to her feet than to Ava, doing her best not to grin.

 

Lily clapped her hands. ‘Yes. Lucky for me I’m not on the team sober soccer suckers. And I for one, will be getting wasted. Come on ladies let us go!’

 

 

 

 

Sara and Constantine were doing pretty great. The club was big enough that they didn’t really have an unpleasant run-in with other gangs. But a lot of people who bought from them said ‘they heard their stuff was good’, so they were pretty sure most of the people doing drugs in the Waverider were buying from them.

 

Turns out the Waverider was such a great hub for dealing, was because it attracted two kinds of people. First, the white rich kids, who were looking for anything new and a few looks from Sara had them buying her stuff at double the price. It also attracted a lot of people who hadn’t found their spot yet and took a liking to the Waverider’s futuristic style. Sara actually liked a lot of them, especially a guy named Nate, who was now looking at his own hands as if he’d never seen them before.

 

 Their stuff was doing so well in fact, that hey got to the club at 10 and it was now a little past midnight and they were completely empty. Sara spotted Constantine walking through the crowd towards her, his hands making a movement that represented emptying his pockets to let her know he was out.

 

Sara grinned and turned fully towards him, clapping him on the back when he got close enough.

 

‘Me too. Let’s get a drink to celebrate!’ She yelled over the loud bass and tugged him towards the bar.

 

 

 

 

Ava, Amaya and Lily got to the Waverider a little past midnight. They had their pre-drinking at the apartment, because it was just cheaper to get tipsy off your own alcohol and then go to the club. Amaya had kept the pretence up for about 5 minutes before downing almost as much shots as Lily and even Ava had a beer or two, which were already completely out of her system when they got to the Waverider.

 

When they entered Ava immediately felt smothered by the dense, sticky air and she wiped her clammy hands on her black leather pants that Lily made her wear. She wore a simple light grey shirt that she tucked into the pants. Her long hair fell in soft curls over both her shoulders. She took a few deep breaths and tried to relax into the sticky warmth of the club.

 

‘Amayaaaa! You came! I didn’t think you were gonna come anymore!’ Ava turned around to find Zari tipsily slinging her arm around Amaya’s neck.

 

‘Fuck you smell good.’ She said as she burrowed her face into Amaya’s neck.

 

Amaya grinned and put her arm around Zari’s waist. ‘So you’re a ‘no filter’ type of drunk then huh?’

 

‘Oh she very much is.’ Sounded an all too familiar voice from right beside Ava.

 

She turned to find a grinning Sara Lance nursing a glass with some dark liquid. She looked stunning. Her hair was frizzy and curly from the sticky air inside and a thin layer of sweat already was covering her skin.

 

The black tank top she had on was showing off her cleavage and biceps, that Ava tried very hard not to gawk at. On top of that, she wore cargo pants that hung low on her hips, showing a little skin of her belly.

 

‘I did not expect to see goodie-two-shoes-Sharpe here.’ Sara continued, turning to face Ava.

 

‘Well I did expect to see you here.’ Ava said. Turning red as soon as she realised what she said.

 

Sara raised both her eyebrows and pursed her lips together in an attempt to suppress the knowing smirk from appearing on her face, giving Ava time to realise it herself.

 

‘I – I mean not that I went here expecting to see you. I jus – This seems like your type of place.’ Ava stuttered

 

Sara made a show of looking around and nodding in agreement.

 

‘Yea it is like me. Hot and will make you sweat.’ She said smirking fully now and winking at Ava, who turned an even deeper shade of red.

 

‘Tha – That is definitely _not_ what I meant –‘ Ava started stuttered holding up her hands in a defending manner. Annoyed at herself for only giving Sara more material to continue her antagonizing.

 

‘Let me buy you a drink, so you can blame your red cheeks on the alcohol.’ Sara smoothly cut in, throwing Ava another wink.

 

‘Oh no, I don’t know. I’m here with –‘ Ava said turning back around to point at Lily and Amaya but finding only air where they had stood before. She spun around quickly, looking for her betrayer friends and spotted Amaya and Zari dancing closely together and Lily tricking some dude-bro into buying her drinks.

 

‘Well never mind then. One beer can’t hurt.’ She said, motioning for Sara to lead the way.

 

‘Great.’ Sara grinned, downing the entirety of her glass before grabbing Ava’s hand and leading them through the crowd towards the bar.

 

 

 

 

Ava had actually been enjoying herself more than she thought. Once they got talking – well yelling over the music – Ava started noticing another layer of personality underneath Sara’s overconfidence.

 

She thought it was probably the alcohol making Sara more loose lipped, but she enjoyed discovering this new side of her.

 

They were playing a broad range of music, switching up genres a lot and as it neared 2 am they started mixing some hardstyle songs into the mix, that had Ava frowning.

 

‘Not a fan of hardstyle I presume?’ Sara said, noticing Ava frown again as another one started playing.

 

‘No, I’m not.’ Ava laughed ‘It’s too much random sound for my liking. Do you enjoy listening to it?’

 

Sara shrugged ‘I have a playlist with hardstyle songs that I listen to when I want to ruin myself in a workout.’

 

Ava frowned ‘That doesn’t sound particularly healthy. Working out if for improving your health, not for hurting it.’

 

Sara shrugged again and took a big swig of her drink, before steering away from the subject, asking Ava what kind of music she did like.

 

Ava decided to let it go, figuring it wasn’t a conversation to hold in a crowded club where they could barely hear each other. She was about to answer the question about her taste in music, when she recognised the melody to the next song.

 

Her eyes went wide ‘No. How could they?!’ she yelled, horror showing on her face.

 

The song that started was ‘bella ciao’, which was a beautiful song, that Ava knew. However, the version they played now was immensely distorted by those weird sounds that were in every hardstyle remix.

 

Sara smirked, noticing Ava’s horror. ‘Oh yeah I love this song!’ She said grinning.

 

‘Yes me too, but not this version. Oh my god this is so bad!’ Ava yelled back. ‘I need a breather, I’m going outside.’ She added as she started to make her way to the exit, Sara following her, still smirking.

 

Once outside Ava realised how much she needed a breath of fresh air. She closed her eyes, letting the light breeze cool down her sticky skin.

 

‘Sara, love. A little help over here please!’ A voice sounded to their right.

 

Ava looked up to see a boy with a mop of dirty blonde hair supporting a stumbling Zari and Amaya. At the sight both Sara and Ava groaned and rolled their eyes, and walked over to the boy.

 

‘Gee thanks Constantine, so helpful.’ Sara sarcastically sneered as the boy, Constantine, held out both the girls’ arms for them to take.

 

Sara took Zari and Ava offered her arm to Amaya. The latter wasn’t as wasted as Zari was, but she was still pretty wobbly on her feet.

 

‘Okay I think it’s time to go home.’ Ava said, sighing at the two drunk girls.

 

‘Okaaayyy but we agreed that I’m gon’ go home with Amayaa.’ Zari let them all know, very loudly. Amaya blushed but nodded in agreement.

 

Ava rolled her eyes again, but didn’t feel like arguing that it was a bad idea. They were both adults, they could think for themselves.

 

‘Fine. Let me go and find Lily. If she wants to go home too, we can uber together and otherwise I’ll let her know we’ll be heading home.’ Ava said as she passed Amaya’s arm to Zari and headed back inside.

 

She found Lily dancing in a group of people, not even thinking about going home yet. Ava let her know they would be going and asked if Lily would be okay by herself. The brunette nodded and hugged her goodbye with a promise to text Ava when she got home safely.

 

Back outside, Sara just finished calling an uber for Zari and Amaya. ‘Okay I’ll help load them into that uber and then I’ll be goin–’ She started but stopped mid-sentence with a shocked look on her face.

 

‘Fuck me.’ The smaller blonde cursed as she slapped her hand to her face and rubbed at her eyes for a second.

 

Understanding dawned on Constantine’s face. ‘You took your bike and then drank too much didn’t you.’ He said. ‘Dammit Sara!’ he shouted as she nodded, thumb and index finger pinching the bridge of her nose.

 

‘Fuck. I can’t leave it here! Maybe if I go real slow? I’m not drunk.’

 

‘Uhm no?’ Ava cut in. ‘You are not driving. You had way too much to be able to ride your bike. People who drive under influence are horrible people tell me you’ve never done that?’

 

‘No. I know. I agree. I’ve never driven with too much alcohol in my system. But I can’t leave it here! Fuck. I guess I’ll start walking.’ Sara answered, laughing humourlessly.

 

Ava sighed, looking at the pained expression on Sara’s face. ‘Fuck. Fine I’ll ride it back for you.’ She said, making both Sara and Constantine’s heads shot up, surprise written over their faces.

 

‘No offence Love, but riding without a license is also illegal.’ Constantine said, looking at Ava sceptically.

 

‘Don’t call me ‘love’. Of course I have a license otherwise I wouldn’t be offering it. Also, I’ve had three beers in total this evening and the first two are for sure out of my system and it’s legal to drive with as much as two drinks’

 

Sara snapped her jaw shut, having to swallow a few times against her suddenly dry mouth. Sara could see it though, Ava in her leather pants leaning against the bike. It fit for some reason and the thought of it shot a spike of warmth low in Sara’s belly.

 

She tried to shake herself out of it and cleared her throat. ‘I didn’t know you could ride.’ She said, immediately cringing at the impressed tone her voice took on.

 

Ava noticed the effect this knowledge had on Sara and decided she could get used to seeing Sara like this. ‘Well you never asked.’ She said with a wink. ‘I assume he can find his own way home?’ she added motioning to Constantine, who rolled his eyes but nodded.

 

‘Yea, yea. See ya Sara.’ He said throwing a knowing look Sara’s way. ‘You too, pet.’ He added directed at Ava. The latter rolled her eyes at him and motioned for Sara to lead her towards her bike.

 

‘I don’t have a spare helmet here. You can have mine, it’s my own fault anyways.’ Sara said as she handed Ava her helmet.

 

Ava frowned, not liking the thought of either of them having to ride without helmet, but one look at Sara’s hopeful eyes had her accepting the helmet.

 

‘Promise you’ll hold tight then.’ Ava said as she moved to put on the helmet, just missing Sara’s smirk.

 

They got on the bike, Sara wrapping both her hands around Ava and pressing herself into the taller girl’s back. Ava was painfully aware of Sara’s warm hands resting on her ribs and the warmth of Sara’s body on her back.

 

Ava quickly kicked the bike to life and pulled out of the parking lot next to the club. She felt Sara move her head to rest against her shoulder, so her directions could be heard through the helmet.

 

Sara relaxed and let herself enjoy the wind that was playfully tugging at her hair. They rode the whole way I silence except for the directions Sara gave and about 20 minutes later, they pulled into the park.

 

Ava took off the helmet and shook her head, making her hair dance around her. So that’s why people liked when she did that, Sara thought, it was fucking hot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! :)


	6. Life Is A Drink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> It's technically still Monday here so I'm still in time. I suddenly had a crazy busy weekend and didn't have much time to write. I haven't really proofread so I'm sorry for any mistakes!
> 
> Anyways enjoy! and if you want, let me know what you thought :)
> 
> Title is from Hymn for the weekend by Coldplay.

Ava took her time to take the park in. There was one long path all the way from the entrance to the very back of the park. Smaller paths traced from the big path to different cabins and buildings.

 

In the grass next to the entrance was were they parked the bike, next to what Ava assumed to be Zari’s dark green one. Next to the bikes where three cars, all either black or dark blue.

 

Ava put the helmet on the bike’s saddle and put her hands in het back pocket, moving her weight to and from the ball of her foot.

 

‘I – I’ll call an uber.’ Ava said after another minute of silence.

 

Sara quickly shook her head. ‘Nah, the least I can do is offer you a drink, after all you drove me all the way back here. Thank you by the way. You like beer right?’

 

Ava smiled at the smaller blonde ‘Okay sure a beer would be great.’ She said, ignoring the voice in her head that said this wasn’t a good idea.

 

She didn’t really know where she expected Sara to live, but in a kind of trailer park, wasn’t on her list.

 

‘Do your parents own this land?’ Ava asked as they started walking towards a smouldering campfire that had chairs and couches all around it.

 

Sara remained quiet as she put a few more logs on the fire to get it started again and motioned for Ava to take a seat anywhere she liked.

 

‘Nah, I live with Zari and other friends.’ She said as she handed Ava her beer and took a seat on the identical brown leather chair next to Ava’s.

 

Ava nodded and quickly took a swig of her beer. She didn’t want to pry and if Sara wasn’t going to elaborate on her own she guessed the smaller girl didn’t want to talk about it.

 

‘So why did you take your bike to the club?’ Ava asked with a laugh playing around her mouth.

 

Sara looked at her for a few seconds and slowly took a swig of her own beer. ‘I didn’t expect to be drinking tonight.’ She answered.

 

Ava, missing Sara’s clipped tone, laughed. ‘Wait so you went to a club? But you didn’t expect to be drinking? What did you expect to be doing there then?’

 

Sara didn’t want to tell Ava about the dealing, she figured Ava Sharpe, lover of rules, wouldn’t understand anyways. Besides telling someone about what she did on the side, opened up a whole array of questions that Sara didn’t feel like answering.

 

Instead she smirked and winked at Ava. ‘I expected to be picking up a pretty girl and taking her home.’ She said, making a show of looking Ava up and down she added ‘I believe I did a pretty good job.’

 

Ava scoffed and leaned over the armrest and lightly shoved Sara. The smaller blonde just laughed as she only swayed lightly.

 

‘I would expect someone that tall to be a little stronger.’ Sara teased, taking another swig of her beer just as Ava shoved her again. Much harder this time.

 

Sara almost choked as the swig of beer went into her windpipe. Ava smiled, pleased with herself, as Sara launched into a coughing fit. Eventually she took pity on Sara and reached over to pat and rub the other girl’s back.

 

She almost blushed when she could feel strong back muscles shift under her hand and as Sara came down from her coughing fit, she quickly took another swig to hide her face.

 

‘Okay forget I ever said anything.’ Sara said, wiping a few tears from coughing out of her eyes.

 

‘Oh I mostly do yeah.’ Ava shot back with a grin.

 

After that they were quiet for a while, Sara getting up twice to refill their beer. Ava told herself she was keeping to her promise of not getting drunk, by deciding she’d get tipsy at most. Ava had a pretty high alcohol tolerance herself, especially since sleeping and eating healthy again, so she knew it would take a while before she got tipsy.

 

‘So what were you doing at the Waverider? I wasn’t joking when I said it didn’t seem like your type of thing.’ Sara broke the silence.

 

‘What seems like my type of thing then?’ Ava asked, genuinely interested in how the smaller blonde perceived her.

 

Sara thought about it for a few seconds, eyebrows knitting together in concentration. ‘You seem like the type of girl who enjoys a party when it’s outside.’ She started carefully.

 

Sara’s eyes lit up as she saw Ava incline her head in confirmation ‘Ooh! You’re a beach party kinda gal.’.

 

Ava took another swig of her beer to hide her smile. ‘Yup, you got me. I don’t like masses of bodies mushed together in an airless building where the smell of sweat and alcohol can’t escape anywhere.’

 

‘I get that I guess. But I enjoy that, I think, the feeling of just having to let go and let yourself be swept away into the crowd.’ Sara said. ‘Still doesn’t answer my question of why you were at the Waverider.’ She added with a wink.

 

‘I just like control too much to just let myself be swept away. And it’s not like you answer my questions, but fine. Amaya and Lily felt I needed to let my hair down and Amaya said Zari had invited her and told her she could bring two people. So I got lucky I guess.’ Ava answered.

 

Sara nodded ‘It’s good to let loose once in a while. I bet you don’t do that unless being forced to.’ She said with a wink. ‘And okay I’ll trade ya. A question for a question, we’ll take turns?’

 

‘Deal. What’s your favourite colour?’ Ava asked, liking the thought of getting another glimpse underneath Sara’s overconfident façade.

 

‘That’s easy. Black. And red. What about you?’ Sara replied, without having to think about it.

 

‘That’s not fair. You can’t just repeat my questions! But okay my favourite colour is blue. Especially grey blue. It’s calming and I love it.’ Ava said.

 

‘Grey blue is really nice too’ Sara hummed in agreement ‘and fine, I’ll come up with a question next.’

 

They talked like that for about an hour, asking questions back and forth. Sara got up a few more times to refill their drinks and an hour later they were both pretty tipsy. Ava was quite impressed that they were the same level of tipsy, since Sara had at least double the amount of alcohol in her system as she had. That girl could really drink.

 

Sara didn’t really know why she asked, she should have expected Ava to repeat the question back to her, but – blame it on the alcohol – she thought it was a good idea.

 

‘So tell me about your family a little bit.’ Sara said, leaning towards Ava in her chair.

 

‘Is that a question or a command Miss Lance?’ Ava teased back, before her face shifted to a more serious expression.

 

‘Both my parents are lawyers, they were and continue to be quite disappointed by my choice to go into Economics. I think they would’ve accepted Business but not Economics. It’s funny they think they have the right to say stuff like that, since they weren’t really there when me and my sister were growing up. My sister and I are still pretty close, but she is at college far away, so we don’t see each other that much.’ Ava continued, looking down at her fidgeting hands.

 

‘Anyways.’ Ava laughed nervously ‘I don’t know why I’m telling you this. What about you?’

 

Sara mentally slapped herself. ‘Uhm. I – It’s complicated.’ She sighed eventually not really wanting to bring up the fact she didn’t really have parents anymore. That would only lead to more questions, the answers to which Sara didn’t even want to think about, let alone talk about.

 

Ava nodded quickly. ‘Yeah okay sure.’ She’d be lying if it didn’t sting a little bit to have Sara dismiss her question like that, seeing as she’d just answered it herself. But, she liked this more relaxed version of Sara and she didn’t want to screw up this fragile friendship right at the start.

 

Sara noticed the slump of Ava’s shoulders when she answered and a wave of guilt washed over her. After all she had been the one to instigate the family subject.

 

‘I’m sorry. It’s just – I don’t talk about it much and It’s a really long story with not a lot of happy moments that I’d rather not think about right now.’ Sara said.

 

That shocked Sara quite a bit. She never cared about what other people thought of her. She would never apologise for anything she did or didn’t say, but for some reason the slightly disappointed tone of Ava’s voice made her want to explain why she didn’t want to talk about it.

 

‘Yeah I get it. It’s okay.’ Ava said. And it was, but then Sara was also not going to get any more personal information from her. She didn’t like when people knew everything about her but she knew nothing about that person. And by the looks of it, Sara was an extremely private person that didn’t like having her business out in the open.

 

‘Do you want another beer?’ Sara asked quickly, wanting to let the other blonde know she still very much liked to have her here.

 

‘No thank you. I think I’ve had enough.’ Ava answered.

 

She took out her phone and saw it was already 4.43 am. She had one very drunken text from Lily telling her she got home safe and would see her in the morning.

 

Ava sighed ‘It’s really late. I think I have to head home. Do you think there would still be Ubers driving in this area?’

 

She thought she saw a flash of disappointment on Sara’s face, but it was gone a fraction of a second later and Ava thought she might have imagined it.

 

‘Sure. I don’t really know about the Ubers, I mostly take my bike everywhere. You can check the app right? You may also sleep here if you want? There are enough beds and the others won’t mind’ She answered hopefully.

 

Sara didn’t know what it was exactly that made her say it and she mentally slapped herself again. She prayed she didn’t sound like a needy toddler asking for more attention.

 

‘Yes, because taking your bike worked out so well for you tonight.’ Ava deadpanned. It gave her a little time to figure out what she wanted to do next.

 

It felt a little awkward to sleep here, since she and Sara had only started actually talking since today. On the other hand, she really enjoyed talking to Sara and if she was honest she didn’t want the night to end yet. But, she also didn’t want to seem too eager, especially not since Sara had refused to open up about her life.

 

‘Let me just check the Uber. I don’t want to cause a hassle.’ She said, while opening the app.

 

‘Okay there is nothing anymore. Should have expected that. It’s really okay if I stay here?’ she asked again, wanting to make sure Sara didn’t invite her out of guilt.

 

Sara just smiled. ‘Yes it’s really okay. We have a guest cabin, but of course you are welcome to sleep in my bed.’ She said, winking.

 

‘I was wondering when that Sara would be back.’ Ava replied, while mock rolling her eyes at the smaller blonde.

 

Sara just spread her arms wide and cocked her head to the side, probably in an attempt to look apologetic, but it just made her look smug. Then her gaze shifted from Ava’s face towards something behind her.

 

‘You two young men are way past curfew!’ She shouted at someone Ava couldn’t see yet.

 

‘Ha. Ha. Very funny little one.’ A gravelly voice sounded from behind Ava.

 

She turned around to see two men of not older than 28 walking towards them. The one that had spoken was a big and burly man with a 5 o’clock shadow on his face and no hair on his head. He wore simple blue jeans and a tight black shirt with a black leather jacket. He was quite intimidating and to say Ava wasn’t a little scared would be lying.

 

The other one was leaner and thinner. His features were sharp and pointy and his brow hung low over his eyes. He had a little more hair on his head than the other man and was cleanly shaved. He too was dressed in black and wore a big winter coat with a fur collar. He was physically less impressive than his partner, but he looked extremely cunning and Ava wasn’t any less terrified.

 

‘And who might this be?’ the cleanly shaven man asked, pointing lazily at Ava. His voice had a nasal tone and he drew out his words, it made him seem very uninterested.

 

Before Sara could say anything, Ava stood up and walked over to the two men extending her hand to the one who had asked the question.

 

‘Hello, my name is Ava Sharpe. I have a shared class with Sara and I drove her and her bike back here.’ She said, voice unwavering and confident.

 

‘Leonard Snart. Can be described as the older brother of Sara.’ The man answered while shaking her hand. ‘This is my partner Mick Rory.’

 

‘Business partner.’ The burly man grunted while also shaking Ava’s hand.

 

‘Nice to meet you both.’ Ava said and turned around to take her seat again, missing the thumbs up both Mick and Leonard gave Sara.

 

‘Wait. You drove her bike? Why?’ Mick grunted.

 

‘Because our sweet Sara, of course, had a few too many drinks when she very explicitly told us she wasn’t going to drink.’ Leonard answered before Sara could come to her own defence.

 

‘Yeah, well.’ She grinned. ‘When you’re a legend nothing ever goes according to plan, now does it.’ She said, doing her best to look as innocent as possible.

 

‘Indeed, Constantine texted it went better than according to plan. Good job.’ Leonard said, before turning around and walking towards the far off end of the park. ‘I’m going to bed. Goodnight you two, don’t stay up to late.’ He said over his shoulder while holding up his hand.

 

Mick grunted in agreement and grabbed a six-pack of beer and walking after Leonard. ‘Night.’ He said before disappearing from the ring of light that surrounded the smouldering fire.

 

Ava looked at Sara questioningly. ‘What went according to plan?’

 

Sara shrugged ‘Eehh, nothing important.’ She said, her face scrunched up in a dismissive expression.

 

‘Come on, I’ll show you the guest cabin.’ She said, pushing down the guilt she felt at lying to Ava again.

 

Sara promised herself to think about a way to make it up to her when her mind wasn’t clouded by alcohol. She didn’t like feeling guilty about protecting her family, but she also actually really liked talking to Ava tonight. Way more than she expected, and she didn’t feel comfortable just brushing the girl aside like this. She figured she would be able to come up with some kind of compromise if she took a little time to think about it.

 

She showed Ava where she could sleep and gave her a towel and shower supplies for in the morning. She also let Ava know where the main building was that she could go to tomorrow morning to get coffee and breakfast. Ava thanked her and they bid each other goodnight.

 

 

 

 

When Ava woke up, she was still really tired, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep any more. She was always up early when she slept over at other peoples’ places, even if they’d gone to sleep past 5 am.

 

She blindly grabbed around her until she found her phone. Through squinted eyes, she could see the screen that told her it was 10.30 am. She groaned and let her head fall back against the pillow, taking the time to slowly get her eyes to stay open without watering.

 

After some time, she rolled out of bed and into the shower. She let the hot water seep into her skin and drive any fogginess from her mind. When she got out she looked around for a blow dryer, but couldn’t find one. Shrugging, she tried to dry her hair with the towel as best as she could before deciding to let it air dry the rest of the way.

 

Ava debated waiting in the cabin a little longer, but her craving for a mug of coffee outweighed the possible awkwardness of running into someone other than Sara.

 

She got to the building Sara had pointed out last night and went inside, where to her relief no one else sat yet. She looked around and quickly spotted the coffee machine on the kitchen counter next to the kettle.

 

She walked over to it and started rummaging through cupboards in search of everything she needed to make her coffee. It took a few tries but in the end Ava got what she needed. She put enough in the machine to make a whole pot, because she didn’t want to seem selfish in case someone else showed up.

 

One and a half cups of coffee later the loud rumble from her belly told her it was breakfast time. She just had one tiny problem. Still no one was up yet. She tried to wait a little longer but after another 15 minutes, her belly was grumbling so loud she couldn’t ignore it anymore.

 

In her search for the coffee she had spotted some eggs and flour and an idea popped into her head. She just needed some milk and a frying pan to make it happen.

 

‘Hm. Smells good in here.’ A gravelly voice sounds from behind where Ava is making her tenth pancake.

 

She glances over her shoulder to see Mick walk into the building.

 

‘Yeah I – uhm I hope it’s okay that I’m making these. I – I was hungry and I thought maybe you all would like some too.’ Ava stammered, a bit uncertain about just having taken all the ingredients and helping herself.

 

‘It’s perfect.’ Mick grunted while taking a seat ‘You made any with bacon?’

 

‘As a matter of fact, I did yes.’ Ava flipped the pancake in the air, before taking a plate and loading two bacon pancakes on it.

 

‘Here you go. More were that came from if you want.’ She added as she put the plate in front of Mick.

 

Mick ate in silence, which Ava appreciated. After his fourth pancake Snart entered, making a comment about the good smell as well. He also took a liking to the bacon pancakes and loaded three on a plate before taking a seat next to Mick.

 

Ava was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable being alone with the two men. She didn’t really know what to talk about or if she should even talk at all. Up until now the two were happily munching on their pancakes in silence and Ava just focussed completely on flipping the pancakes, wishing Sara would hurry up.

 

Her prayers went unanswered as the next person who walked into the room was that annoying boy from yesterday.

 

‘Ohh this is great, pet. May I also trouble you for one?’ Constantine said, grinning as he already walked over to the pile and grabbed himself a few.

 

Ava just rolled her eyes and motioned to the pile. ‘Sure, by all means.’ She said sarcastically.

 

Sara chose that moment to finally enter the building as well, saving Ava from more interaction with the annoying boy.

 

‘Jesus Ava you did all this?’ Sara asked. She stood in the entrance, eyes wide in shock.

 

‘Uh. Yeah. Hope that was okay?’ Ava asked, not sure if Sara’s tone was pleased or not.

 

‘Uhm. Duh? This is awesome!’ The smaller blonde answered.

 

Ava watched as an excited grin spread across Sara’s face.

 

‘What do you like? There is bacon an plain.’ Ava asked when Sara walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself a mug.

 

‘Plain, thank you.’ She answered, walking to another cupboard and taking out a container of powdered sugar.

 

Sara took the plate with two plain pancaked from Ava’s hands and took a seat at the table. Ava watched in horror as Sara started pouring a mountain of sugar on her pancake.

 

‘How are you still alive.’ Ava asked, her distaste clearly showing on her face.

 

‘What do you mean?’ Sara answered with a glimmer in her eye.

 

She made a show of rolling up the pancake and taking a bite.

 

‘Fuf tha’s goo.’ She said with her mouthful.

 

Ava rolled her eyes again and turned off the gas. She took the last pile of pancakes to the table and took a seat next to Sara.

 

Sara ate the last pancakes and everyone leaned back in their chair with a full belly and a content smile on their face. Ava offered to help with the dishes, but Sara shook her head.

 

‘They can take care of that. Right boys?’ She said, smirking at them.

 

Ava smiled ‘Alright. I think it’s time for me to go home then.’

 

‘Yeah, sure. I’ll drive you this time.’ Sara answered, smiling at Ava sheepishly.

 

Sara rode far more reckless than Ava did and it had the girl holding onto the smaller blonde tightly, which was maybe exactly what Sara wanted. Still she took care to keep the recklessness to a minimum, far less from what it normally was.

 

When they got to the apartment, Sara parked her bike and walked Ava all the way to her door.

 

‘I actually had a great time last night. Maybe we can do it again some time?’ Sara asked hopefully, not quite meeting Ava’s eyes.

 

The taller blonde looked at her feet and brushed her hair behind her ear.

 

‘Yes. I’d like that too I think. There’s a lot still to be discovered about you.’ She answered, immediately cringing at her word choice.

 

Sara laughed ‘Yeah, I could probably maybe tell you a bit more about myself.’

 

‘You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to Sara.’ Ava quickly said, not wanting the smaller girl to feel like she owed her anything.

 

‘No. No I think I want to.’ Sara said thoughtfully.

 

A soft smile played around Ava’s lips. ‘Well, I’d like that very much. Next time at my place.’

 

‘You got yourself a deal Sharpe.’ Sara said, extending her hand to Ava.

 

She shook it, a grin splitting her face. ‘Okay. Bye then.’

 

‘Bye Ava, see you Monday.’ Sara said as she walked back to her bike.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> find me on tumblr [unlocktherainbow](http://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/)


	7. You Know I Would Be Lying If I Said You Could Escape Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> Here I am with another chapter! I'm surprised with my time management man 7 chapters and all uploaded on Monday!  
> I really liked writing this chapter so I hope you like reading it :)
> 
> Enjoy! and let me know what you thought, if you want :)
> 
> Chapter title is from 'Vicious' by Halestorm (I love that song)

‘Next time’ wasn’t exactly what Ava would call a clear agreement, but she decided to let it happen naturally, if they both still wanted to.

 

That proved to be a lot harder than Ava thought. It didn’t come up naturally and Ava felt awkward asking about it. She didn’t want to seem desperate or something and the more she thought about ways to let Sara know she still wanted there to be a next time, the more freaked out with herself she got.

 

Sara didn’t bring it up either and at first Ava thought it was just coincidentally, but when their entire shared Monday class went by with the two girls talking only about their project, Ava started to doubt herself. Maybe Sara didn’t want there to be a next time. Maybe Sara had come to her senses and fallen back on the idea that Ava Sharpe was a boring goodie-two-shoes. That was probably it.

 

Those thoughts didn’t make it any easier to invite Sara over. She didn’t want to have the whole project become an awkward mess, because she had interpreted Sara being polite as Sara being actually interested.

 

Ava was making herself crazy. She knew that. She just wasn’t able to stop.

 

Thursday came around and Ava still hadn’t brought it up again. By this time she was too embarrassed to. She figured she would just let it go and hope no one would ever find out what kind of wuss she was when it came to her crushes. Useless lesbian.

 

Ava and her soccer team walked onto the pitch when Karin elbowed her in her side.

 

‘Ow! What the fuck?’ She said, looking angrily at the goalie.

 

Karin just pointed towards the bleachers, smirking. Ava could make out the familiar head of blonde hair and threw Karin another angry glare before walking over to the figure that was the one and only Sara Lance.

 

‘Are you gonna break the deal and never invite me over Sharpe?’ Sara said as soon as Ava was within earshot.

 

There was really no beating around the bush with this girl. Ava liked that about her. She was straightforward. Unless it was about Sara’s personal life, then all she could do was beat around the bush.

 

‘Uhm – no. yeah. I mean – I wanted to but I just –‘

 

She took a deep breath. ‘doesn’t matter. I’m sorry. Would you like to come over to my place?’

 

‘Thought you’d never ask.’ Sara said, a teasing smirk planted firmly on her face.

 

Ava let out a sound that was somewhere between a huff and a laugh.

 

‘I’m sorry. I wanted to, but then I waited and then it was kind of weird so then I just didn’t.’ Ava said, looking at her feet.

 

‘It’s okay Ava, I figured as much. Or I thought you didn’t want to anymore. Both scenarios would be fixed by me just asking, so that’s what I did.’

 

‘Is that how the brain of someone who is not an overthinker works?’ Ava answered, only half joking.

 

‘Anyways. Do you have plans tomorrow?’ Ava continued quickly, before Sara thought she was too weird and changed her mind.

 

‘You’re cute.’ Sara just said, a small smile on her lips.

 

It was the first genuine flirty compliment Sara had given Ava and both girls realised it at the same time. The slightly shocked look on Sara’s face told Ava she hadn’t meant to say it.

 

‘I mean –‘ Sara started

 

‘Don’t ruin it?’ Ava interrupted before Sara could add something rude.

 

‘I have to go train. You know the deal. If you stay. You sprint.’ Ava said, smirking slightly.

 

‘Nah. I’ll pass. Wouldn’t want to put you on your ass again now would we.’ Sara replied with a wink.

 

Ava scoffed. ‘I was exhausted and you know that. I could easily outrun you.’

 

‘I guess we will forever wonder.’ Sara just teased, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

 

‘See you in class later.’ She added, before turning around and walking away.

 

For some unknown reason Ava went through the whole soccer practice with a smile on her face.

 

 

 

 

Sara was restless, by the time it was Friday. It was only 10 am and she had a whole day to kill, before she could drive over to Ava’s. She was on one hand really looking forward to it, she had really enjoyed last time and she was quite disappointed when Ava never brought it up again.

 

She knew it was probably just Ava being insecure, but she couldn’t help the sting of rejection spreading through her belly. Her suspicion was confirmed when she asked the taller girl about it and relief washed over her when Ava had told her she was sorry and invited her to come over Friday. Today.

 

On the other hand, she was incredibly nervous. She knew she’d kind of promised to tell Ava about her family and about her life and she knew she would have to at some point if she wanted this thing to move forward, which she did.

 

It was weird. She never had any trouble with lying to people about her life. She didn’t want their pity or promises of helping out should she need it. She usually told people her parents lived away and she moved here for college and grew close to the people who owned the park.

 

But for some reason she couldn’t lie to Ava. She had danced around it the whole time the other night and the way Ava’s shoulders slumped each time Sara brushed her questions away, made her stomach twist in guilt. She didn’t want to lie to Ava and that scared her.

 

Sara knew if she just told Ava it was personal and she didn’t want to talk about it, the taller girl would understand and not pry any further. But she also knew if she made that choice she wouldn’t be able to grow any closer to her until she did share it.

 

Ava was a true economist. If Sara didn’t want to share, that would be fine. But that also meant that Ava wouldn’t be sharing much either. Sara understood that of course, it was fair and Ava would only be protecting herself. But she wanted to know about Ava. She wanted to know how the other girl’s brain worked. What she liked. What she hated. How she liked to spent her free time. Everything.

 

But Sara didn’t like talking about herself. Because talking about herself meant she had to think about herself and Sara didn’t like thinking about herself. She preferred to push all her feelings down into tiny, tiny boxes and pray they wouldn’t tear open.

 

It wasn’t a great mechanism. But it was Sara’s mechanism.

 

There was no one around that told her it wasn’t healthy what she was doing. And if they tried, she didn’t listen. Mick used the same mechanism. Snart would try to get her to open up, but never push hard enough. Zari went along with it but tried really hard to do little things for Sara that would make her feel better. Constantine came the closest, but he was in many ways too similar to Sara and the two would usually end up wallowing together instead of helping each other up.

 

After all this time of pushing things away, she was scared to go down there. Scared of the memories and feelings it might trigger. She was doing fine. And she would like to keep it that way. So she didn’t need some tall blonde trying to come in and kick down every wall she built.

 

But she kind of wanted her to. She couldn’t ignore the small, tiny part of her that begged Sara to let someone in. To let someone try and help her. The bigger part of her was way too proud for that. The bigger part of her knew Sara wasn’t really going to open up. The bigger part of her would maybe let Ava scrape off one layer of wallpaper but that was it.

 

Sara really needed to get out of her head and before she knew what she was doing, she was halfway through changing in her gym clothes. She pulled her shirt down right as her phone pinged to life.

 

Ava: _Can you make 8? Do you prefer beer or wine tonight?_

_8’s good. Whatevs u haves fine by me. Can I bring smth?_

Ava: _Okay great. No I’ll take care of everything, but you could bring proper grammar?_

Sara smiled at her phone. If Ava wanted proper grammar, naturally Sara was only going to make her text as difficult to read as possible.

 

_Y? dont c a prblm?_

Ava: _I don’t even understand what you are saying._

Ava: _Are you choking?_

 

That made Sara laugh out loud.

 

‘My, My. The Sara Lance, laughing at her phone. This girl has you whipped already.’ Snart’s nasal voice sounded from behind her.

 

‘Do you not know how to knock?’ Sara answered annoyed.

 

‘I did. You didn’t hear it. Guess you were… preoccupied.’ He said lazily, motioning to her phone.

 

Sara flipped him off. ‘What do you want?’

 

‘Just came to say we will be out for the rest of the day.’ He said, holding up his hands in an innocent manner.

 

‘Okay. I won’t be here tonight. Don’t wait up.’ She said with a grin.

 

Snart whistled in return and exited the cabin before the pillow Sara threw hit him in the head.

 

She looked at her phone again.

 

Ava: _Seriously, are you dead now? Should I call 911?_

_Nah im good. Snart walked in. Sorry for worrying u ;)_

Ava: _Shut up Lance._

Sara laughed again, packing up the last of her gym stuff and walking out of her cabin and towards her bike.

_Gtg. c u 2nite Sharpe_

Ava: _I despise you._

Ava: _Bye._

__

Sara grinned again and almost forgot why she felt like she needed to go to the gym, but a few seconds after she put her phone away, Ava’s texts disappeared and Sara’s thoughts started flowing back in. Yes. She needed the gym.

 

 

 

 

‘Uhm excuse me. This is the advanced sparring class. Are you sure you’re in the right place?’

 

Sara rolled her eyes and turned around to face a guy that was at least two and a half head bigger than she was. He was looking at her with his eyebrow raised and a mocking smile on his lips.

 

‘I’m sure pal.’ She said with another roll of her eyes. She turned her back to him again and focussed on Oliver, the trainer, who was preparing everything at the front of the room.

 

Sara tried. She really tried to be the bigger person –

 

‘But you’re so tiny.’ He said mockingly again.

 

– But  as the guy said. She was tiny. So she turned to face him again.

 

‘When you’re on the flat on the ground I’m not.’ She said icily calm.

 

The rest of the people in the class were starting to follow the conversation, including Oliver. Most people knew Sara and what she was capable of and wisely kept their mouth shut. The few who hadn’t had the pleasure of training with her yet looked uncomfortable.

 

The guy scoffed again ‘Sure. I’d like to see you try.’

 

‘Then maybe you should. Let her try.’ Oliver said, walking over to where they stood, smirking at Sara.

 

The guy was oblivious to all the knowing glances going around the room and actually had the nerve to laugh out loud.

 

‘Sure kid. I’ll go easy on ya.’ He said, swaggering over to the middle of the room, where the foam mat lay.

 

Sara rolled her eyes again and re-strapped the Velcro of her hand wraps and popped her mouthpiece in.

 

‘I won’t.’ She said and walked after him.

 

They got into fighting stances and when Oliver gave the go ahead, they circled around each other for a few seconds. Chris, as Oliver had called the guy, thought he would end this quickly and effectively and threw the first punch straight at her head.

 

Sara ducked under it easily, almost laughing at the pathetic attempt. She let him circle for a few seconds longer. He was pretty strong, judging by the size of his muscles, so she would need to evade most of the punches rather than blocking them.

 

He threw another punch at her head and this time she ducked and stepped forward, throwing a quick, vicious jab to his exposed ribs. He grunted in surprise and quickly circled away from her.

 

 

Having seen how fast she was, he was a little more careful. He aimed the next punch at her stomach. She jumped backwards, but he threw a hook with his other hand right away, that Sara had no chance but to block, using both her arms. She swore under the impact and stumbled back a bit.

 

‘Again with the face punch? It’s predictable. You should work on that’ She said, smirking at him

 

She saw the anger flash over his face and he raised his fist again, making his defence fall. Sara took that opportunity to straight kick him in the face. It landed on his nose with a sickening crunch. Tears sprang into his eyes and blood started leaking out of his nose.

 

He took a few steps back to try and put some space between them to recover, but Sara wouldn’t let up. She jabbed him in the ribs twice again, but had to jump backward when he struck out wildly.

 

She had riled him up good and he was becoming less careful, throwing punch after punch. Sara ducked under a few and took a few jabs to her ribs. She also got in a few punches of her own

 

She had to block another punch aimed at her face again, which left her stomach exposed. He took advantage of it by throwing the next into her stomach, doubling her over. She knew this was a dangerous position, because her back was fully exposed, so she gritted her teeth against the pain and somersaulted past him.

 

He whirled around to face her again, but was too late with bringing up his defence. Sara punched him on his already bloody nose, probably breaking it in the process. She didn’t waste any time and high kicked him in the chest with so much force he flew backwards and was just able to keep himself upright.

 

Sara was panting heavily now. Her stomach and forearms ached from catching most of the punches. She knew she he was stronger than her and she couldn’t block a lot more of his punches, before her arms gave out.

 

Deciding offence was the best defence she ran over to him, jumping in the air to give her punch extra force and caught him square in the jaw. His face would be a beautiful mix of purple and blue tomorrow. So would her knuckles.

 

He rolled backwards, evading Sara’s kick and taking Sara’s lead he also went on the offence. He finally got a punch to her face through her defence and she grunted as it hit her on her cheekbone, snapping her head to the side.

 

The both panted and she knew she had to find a way to end it, knowing she couldn’t keep this up much longer.

 

They were a fury of fists for the next few minutes. Both throwing an catching punches. Sara was mostly able to block them with her arms, Chris wasn’t that fortunate, because Sara was a whole lot faster than him.

 

She let him think she was slowing down and tiring out, only using her arms and he fell for it. His punches got more sloppy and his defence dropped too often.

 

Sara took her chance when he threw another punch without shifting his weight properly. She dropped to the ground and leaned on her arm as she kicked low over the ground and swooped his legs straight from under him.

 

He didn’t have a chance and fell flat on his back. But that wasn’t enough for Sara. She saw red. She jumped up and got on top of his chest, punching him in the face again and again. He tried to push her off but when he realised he wasn’t able to he tried to protect his face as much as possible.

 

‘Sara! SARA!’

 

She heard yelling and before she could catch up to what was happening, she was being lifted off of Chris’ chest by two strong arms.

 

‘Enough Sara!’ Oliver yelled as he held her arms pinned down to her sides.

 

When the red haze cleared from her eyes she watched in horror at what she did. Chris was still lying on the ground, blood streaming down his face. A few guys crouched next to him to check if he needed medical attention. Chris wove them away saying he would be fine, but that they needed to keep ‘that crazy bitch’ away from him.

 

Sara had no problem with that.

 

Oliver turned her around, trying to catch her eye, but she evaded his attempts at eye contact.

 

‘What the hell Sara? ‘Teach him a lesson’ doesn’t mean beat him into a coma.’

 

‘I know. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry.’ She murmured, looking down at the ground.

 

He carefully let go of her arms and she kept them hanging limply at her side.

 

‘I’ll go. I’m sorry Oliver.’

 

He nodded, looking at her with concern written all over his face.

 

‘I think that would be best for now. I’ll see you next week though?’ He asked, wanting to let her know she was still very much welcome here.

 

‘Maybe. Bye.’ She answered.

 

She walked out of the room without looking at anyone and changed into her normal clothes quickly. She cursed herself again and again. How could she have let herself lose control like that. Chris’ bloodied face kept popping up in her head and she couldn’t believe she went that far. It scared her.

 

Sara groaned as she forced herself into the saddle of her bike. Everything ached already and she knew she looked like shit, with the bruise forming on her cheek. Her cheek. Her face is  out in the open for everyone to see. For Ava to see. Fuck. So much for trying to keep up the front of someone who had their life in order.

 

Last time Sara had a bruise, Ava literally chased her to make sure she was alright. That was one bruise and it wasn’t even a bad one. Now she had a really nasty one on her cheek and her knuckles, arms and stomach would be littered with bruises in a few hours.

 

She might be able to brush the one on her cheek off on some sparring accident like she had before, but if Ava saw the rest of them she would freak out for sure. She thought about cancelling, but she couldn’t do that now. Ava had probably already gone grocery shopping and stuff. She wasn’t that selfish.

 

By the time she got back to the park and stepped out of the scalding shower she took to relax her muscles, it was 2 pm. Her entire body was sore and she felt exhausted. She thought that a nap might help and as soon as her head hit the pillow she was gone.

 

Sara woke up two and a half hours later feeling surprisingly refreshed. Her body still ached, but her head was a little clearer and the exhaustion she had felt lifted away a bit.

 

She got ready, throwing on some black jeans and a flannel, which she buttoned up completely so it hid the bruise on her collarbone. She tried to mask the swollen bruise on her cheek with a bit of concealer but that only made it look worse, so she wiped it off again.

 

After she was done getting ready, she fucked around on her phone until it was time to go. Nerves jittered in her belly and her hands were clammy. She tried to push it down. Why the hell was she so nervous? Sara Lance was never nervous.

 

Surprisingly enough Sara was exactly on time. She knocked on the door, holding the bouquet of flowers in front of her face to mask the horror that lay behind a little longer and held her breath as she waited for Ava to open up the door.

 

‘Sara! These are beautiful thank you!’ Ava said excitedly when she saw the flowers Sara got for her.

 

She took the flowers out of Sara’s hands and turned away to put them in some water, still not having seen the bruise. Sara awkwardly followed her to the kitchen where Ava was putting water into a vase and cutting the ends of the flowers. When she was done, she turned around to face Sara and the smaller blonde could tell the exact moment Ava saw.

 

‘It’s noth – ‘

 

‘Sara what hap – ‘

 

They spoke at the same time, stopping simultaneously. Sara motioned for Ava to go ahead. And the taller blonde walked over to where Sara was standing. She lifted Sara’s face and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, so she could take the full bruise in.

 

‘Sara what happened?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Tumblr is [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/)


	8. And Wouldn't You Love To Love Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> Sorry this is a day late, I had a crazy busy day yesterday and this was the first free time i got to finish it.  
> It isn't really proofread, I'm sorry, I'll try to do that later, but I wanted to get it out.  
> I don't really know what to think of this chapter, I couldn't wuite get into the feel of writing it so I'm sorry if it seems like just a lot of bits and pieces. 
> 
> I hope you still like it, let me know! :)
> 
> Title is from 'Rhiannon' by Fleetwood mac.

 

‘Does it hurt?’ Ava asked in a soft voice as she inspected the bruise.

 

‘Nah, it’s fine. You should see the other guy’ Sara said, trying to make it sound reassuring by cracking a joke.

 

A small smile flashed over Ava’s face. She was standing very close to Sara, still looking at the bruise with shock, but also curiosity  on her face. Sara stood very still, as if she was afraid one sudden movement would startle the taller blonde and make her step away.

 

‘It’s fine I promise.’ Sara said when Ava raised an eyebrow at her.

 

‘Okay.’ Ava said softly.

 

She lightly stroked Sara’s cheek, before she realised what she was doing and took two quick steps back. Sara let out a breath she didn’t realise she was holding and instantly missed Ava’s soft hand on her face.

 

‘Do you want to tell me what happened?’ Ava asked, trying to make it sound as unthreatening as she could.

 

Sara wanted to. She really did. She wanted to tell her how it started as just some fun and ended in her losing control completely. She really wanted to. But she didn’t know how to start.

 

‘I had a boxing class.’ She said, as if that would explain everything.

 

‘Sure I’ve had some of those’ Ava answered. ‘But I’ve never come back with such a bruise on my cheek and a haunted look in my eyes.’ She added pointedly after a pause.

 

‘Wait you take boxing classes?’ Sara asked, heat rising to her face.

 

Ava really surprised her a lot. First with the riding a bike and now with the boxing. Ava was the opposite of a boring goodie-two-shoes if you got to know her.

 

‘A few, sometimes, when life gets to be too much. Not the point though.’ Ava didn’t want to pry on Sara’s personal life if Sara didn’t want to, but the girl had come here after something happened that clearly unsettled her and she couldn’t just let it go.

 

‘Look. I understand if you don’t want to tell me. We’ve only just started talking, but I want to help Sara. I can tell you didn’t just have a normal boxing session, something happened I can see it in your eyes.’ Ava started rambling.

 

She really just wanted to help Sara. She didn’t know if she could, but she wanted the smaller girl to know she was there for her if she needed something.

 

‘I just – I’m here if you want to talk. Or if you just want to sit and watch a movie and drink wine.’ Ava added and looked down at her feet.

 

She was finding it really difficult to find a balance between wanting Sara to know she wanted to help and pushing the girl away by making a huge deal out of something that maybe wasn’t that big to Sara. Though, she could see it was, in fact, a pretty big deal.

 

There was a moment of silence. Ava was still looking down at her feet and wishing the other blonde wouldn’t turn around and walk away. Sara wasn’t even thinking about walking away. She was staring at Ava intently, wondering how Ava managed to look so vulnerable when Sara was the one who should be scared of the other leaving.

 

‘It really did happen in boxing class. Though you’re right it wasn’t a usual one. Do you mind pouring the wine before I start?’ Sara said quietly, needing the liquid courage.

 

Ava nodded once ‘of course’.

 

Ava got two glasses and poured each of them a healthy amount. She then moved to the couch and sat down in one corner, holding out the other glass to Sara. She took it and sat down on the opposite corner.

 

Sara sighed once and used her free hand to rub over her face. She heard Ava take in a sharp breath and when she eyed Ava curiously as to why, she found the taller blonde staring at her hands. Sara realised she must have seen the bruises that littered her knuckles and self-consciously shifted so her knuckles were out of view.

 

Sara took a big swig from her glass and took a few breaths, before she began.  


Ava listened intently, never once interrupting the other girl. She snickered at the way the sparring had started and her eyes widened with amazement as Sara told her about how she’d taken down a guy almost twice her size. She winced as Sara explained which bruises were due to what and almost pitied the guy when Sara quietly admitted she had broken his nose.

 

When Sara got to the part where she had lost control, her voice was barely above a whisper and her throat ached with unshed tears. Ava sat very quietly and let Sara take all the time she needed to get all the words out.

 

When Sara finished her story, she didn’t really know what she expected Ava to say. Probably she’d tell her to be more careful, or that she maybe shouldn’t go to boxing class for a while. She was already making up a thousand excuses for why she needed the class and that it would never happen again and that she would be more careful.

 

‘You’re not a bad person Sara.’ Ava said instead, looking at the smaller girl softly.

 

Sara let out a surprised breath at that. She hadn’t even realised that is exactly what she had been telling herself and Ava had instantly picked up on that. Sara didn’t believe her, of course she was a bad person, she had punched a guy’s face to a bloody mess when he was already lying on his back.

 

‘Of course I am.’ Sara croaked quietly, a single tear slipping out of her eye, which she wiped away roughly.

 

Ava shook her head. ‘No, you are not. I’m not going to tell you that it was okay what you did, but you realise that. And the fact that you are beating yourself up about it, makes me sure that you are not a bad person.’

 

Sara nodded quietly, a few more tears slipping out of her eyes, which she continued to wipe away roughly.

 

‘Has it happened before?’ Ava asked after another few moments of silence.

 

Sara quietly shook her head. ‘No, never like this.’ She answered.

 

Ava cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. ‘Like what has it happened then?’

 

The corner of Sara’s mouth twitched upward. Ava was good at picking up on things that Sara tried to hide by formulating her answers very carefully.

 

‘I don’t know. I’ve felt it more than once. That sort of… bloodlust.’ Sara started carefully, not wanting to go into details. ‘But there was always someone there to snap me out of it, before I could lose control. Or the fight was already over before it could rise to the surface. More often the latter.’

 

Ava nodded. ‘From what you’ve just told me about your fighting skills, I can imagine.’ She said, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

 

Sara smiled a little at that. ‘Yeah, well. I don’t know how to get it under control. Sometimes there is just this endless rage inside me that I don’t know what to do with and I try to push it down but sometimes I can’t help it.’

 

‘There must be an origin for that rage. It doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. Maybe if you tried to find the source you could try and find a way to deal with it?’ Ava suggested.

 

‘Yeah… maybe.’ Sara said, not really convinced and certainly not eager to go spiralling down into herself to find something she would rather keep locked away forever.

 

‘Enough about this. It was supposed to be a fun evening and I’m ruining that by being all sad and dark and shit.’ She laughed a little and proved her point by taking another sip of her wine.

 

Ava nodded hesitantly. ‘Okay. But I’m here if you need to talk. I meant that. Not just tonight.’ She said ‘Let me also get something for that bruise. I’m assuming you didn’t ice it? I’m also assuming those aren’t the only ones?’ Ava added pointedly.

 

Sara shifted uncomfortably. She didn’t want to show Ava her stomach that she knew would be a pallet of purple by now, but she also didn’t want to ruin this new found level of intimacy by refusing Ava’s help.

 

She made her choice before Ava could second guess herself again.

 

‘That would be great actually. No there are also a few on my stomach.’

 

Ava nodded once and motioned to turn around to get some salve for bruises.

 

‘Wait, do you mind if I put on some music?’ Sara asked, sick of hearing herself think.

 

‘As long as it’s not hardstyle.’ Ava answered with a wink and handed Sara her Bluetooth box.

 

Sara laughed and made Ava laugh by pretending she couldn’t possibly think of anything else to play.

 

When Ava got back with the salve, she heard the familiar tunes to ‘Rhiannon’, a song she actually liked very much.

 

‘I wouldn’t have guessed you would be into Fleetwood Mac!’ Ava said surprised as Stevie Nicks’ raspy voice filled the room.

 

‘Honestly didn’t listen to them until I watched season 3 of American Horror Story. One witch in that season is crazy about Stevie Nicks and I started listening to it. This song always helps me when I’m thinking too much, I don’t know I can get so lost in it.’ Sara answered as she swayed to the melody.

 

Ava was nodding eagerly. ‘Yes! Misty Day! She is my favourite! And her and Cordelia are so fucking gay for each other!’

 

‘Oh my god I know right! Foxxay forever baby!’ Sara replied enthusiastically.

 

They talked a little longer about American Horror Story, sharing their favourite seasons and characters. But after some time Ava realised Sara was stalling, finding some other thing to ask Ava about each time the conversation threatened to end, keeping Ava from tending to Sara’s bruises.

 

Ava shook her head and smiled to herself. She wasn’t even sure the other girl consciously knew what she was doing, so she decided not to call her out on it. She did however stop letting Sara distract her and walked over to where she sat on the couch, lightly waving the bottle of salve.

 

‘Hold your head still, and it’s probably cold.’ Ava said as she poured a little of the salve on her finger.

 

When Sara stopped talking and held her head still, she carefully rubbed it on the bruise. Next up were her knuckles and after that Ava asked Sara to open up her flannel blouse, cheeks not at all reddening at he thought of seeing Sara in a bra.

 

Sara kept sitting still for a few more moments, but then her fingers moved to undo the first button.

 

‘It looks worse than it is. I promise.’ She warned Ava as she continued to undo the buttons.

 

All Ava’s embarrassment flew out the window as she took in the state of Sara’s stomach. She tried very hard not to gasp, but she couldn’t help the widening of her eyes. Sara was staring at her intently, looking for any signs the taller blonde would rather run away, but saw none as determination set in Ava’s features.

 

‘This might hurt.’ Ava said as she started rubbing the salve on the bruises.

 

Sara kept quiet and very still as she let Ava continue rubbing the salve on all her bruises, breathing through the pain.

 

‘You’re lucky you didn’t break any ribs.’ Ava said quietly, trying to distract herself as her fingers moved closer to Sara’s breasts.

 

Sara scoffed ‘Yeah. Been there done that. Rather never again.’ The words slipped out of her mouth before she even realised what exactly she was saying.

 

Ava stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Sara with wide eyes, before she realised that would probably only spook the girl from elaborating. She quickly made her hands move again and forced her features to relax.

 

‘How did you manage that?’ Ava asked carefully.

 

Sara kept quiet for a few moments. Now was the time to figure out what exactly she could and wanted to tell Ava about her life. She already knew that Sara lived on the park with the Legends, just not that they were a gang involved in dealing and stealing.

 

But she figured she could tell this story, since it didn’t involve the gang and to be fair, it was hilarious. It might help to lighten the mood a little. Sara wanted to tell Ava about her life, just not all at once. That was too much for any person to handle in one go, Sara included.

 

‘My friends all thought it was hilarious. Me not so much at the time.’ Sara started with a grin and she saw Ava visibly relax at the sign of it not being that serious of a story.

 

‘I was about 16 I think and her name was Tessa. She was absolutely gorgeous and we started sleeping together. I would always climb into her room when her brother and parents were away.’ Sara started.

 

‘Yes I know, it’s a cliché shut up.’ She said, holding up a finger in warning as Ava started laughing.

 

Ava bit her lip in an attempt to keep the bubble of laughter down, but her eyes twinkled and she couldn’t wipe the grin off her face.

 

‘So, one night her parent very inconveniently came back early and we didn’t hear them coming in, because we were… preoccupied.’ Sara said, grinning at the memory.

 

‘Then we heard them coming up the stairs and Tessa was like freaking out and not so subtly yelling for me to get out. I just managed to put my pants and shirt on before she literally pushed me out of the window. I landed badly on an edge and it broke two of my ribs.’ Sara continued.

 

Ava snorted and couldn’t keep the laughter from spilling out of her mouth at the thought of a grumbling Sara falling out of the window. She finished rubbing the salve on Sara’s stomach and sat back, enjoying the story.

 

‘Yeah. Well that’s not even all!’ Sara laughed and held up her hands to stop Ava from commenting.

 

‘She threw my shoes out after me, thankfully. But, her dad heard her yelling for me to get out and thought there was an intruder or something so their solution was to let the fucking dog out.’ Sara said.

 

Ava groaned at the stupidity of the parents.

 

‘So there I was sprinting through their garden with two broken ribs and a dog right behind me. I wasn’t quick enough to climb over the fence and the beast bit me in my calf. I threw my shoes at it and that thankfully made it let me go.’ Sara finished.

 

She rolled up her pants and showed Ava the scars that were still on her calf, still laughing. Ava winced, but was reassured by Sara’s laughter so she knew it was okay to find it quite hilarious.

 

‘Yeah. I made it to the park bleeding and Snart took me to the ER to have my leg stitched together. After that I only slept with people at either my place or at theirs if they had their own place.’ Sara added.

 

Ava chuckled and traced the scars with her finger.

 

‘You are really something, Sara Lance.’ Ava said, shaking her head in disbelief.

 

She obviously knew Sara had slept with a lot of people, but there was something in the pit of her stomach that didn’t like thinking about other people with Sara. She quickly pushed it to the side and cleared her throat. She was not jealous of some girl that probably had an amazing time under Sara four years ago.

 

‘You uhm… You can close your blouse now, I think the salve is dry by now.’ Ava said, suddenly very aware of the exposed skin of Sara’s chest and belly.

 

Even bruised and battered, she was absolutely beautiful and Ava couldn’t help but stare at her clear defined abs. She forced her eyes to not creep any higher and therefore missed the smirk that was playing on Sara’s lips.

 

‘Why should I? It seems as if you like what you see.’ Sara said tauntingly, revelling in the way Ava’s cheeks flushed deep red and her eyes quickly found a loose thread on the couch much more interesting.

 

Sara let her squirm for a few more seconds before chuckling lightly and starting to close the buttons.

 

‘Why didn’t you just take this… Tessa to your place?’ Ava asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

 

She winced at her own question, actually not wanting to know, but just needing to have something else to think about besides Sara’s abs.

 

‘I am a gentleman. I wouldn’t make a girl climb through a window for me.’ Sara said wit a wink.

 

But Ava saw something flash over Sara’s face right before she said it. It was gone almost as soon as it had appeared, but it was enough to let Ava know there was more to it than that. So, Ava said nothing. Keeping her eyes trained on Sara’s. She watched the other girl squirm for a moment, a fight obviously going on inside her head.

 

‘I uhm… I already lived at the park by then. Not legally though, so I didn’t really have a place to take her to that wouldn’t possibly jeopardise everything.’ Sara said quietly.

 

Ava watched her for a moment longer. Sara was looking down at her fidgeting hands, blonde hair falling in front of her face, shielding her from the rest of the world. Her shoulders were hunched up a bit and Ava could see the tension in her body. She looked vulnerable. Hurt.

 

‘What do you mean by not legally?’ Ava just asked.

 

Sara had told her that her family situation was complicated, but Ava had assumed that just meant that Sara didn’t have a great relationship with them and moved far away for college. Of Sara had already been living at the trailer park at 16, there was way more to it.

 

Sara took a deep breath. ‘Yeah uhm – I’ve been living at the trailer park with Mick and Snart since I was 14. My foster parents at the time let me as long as they got the money and I showed up for obligated visits.’ She said, rushing to get the words out.

 

Ava’s eyes widened at that information. She desperately tried to keep the shock off her face, not wanting to spook Sara away from telling her.

 

‘What uhm – What happened to your real parents?’ Ava all but whispered, wanting to know but not wanting to pressure Sara in to telling her.

 

‘I mean. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Just tell me to back off and I will!’ Ava said quickly when Sara didn’t immediately answer.

 

‘No. No. It’s fine.’ Sara said, taking a deep breath.

 

‘My mother and sister died in a car accident. My dad started drinking and never stopped.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> tumblr is [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/) I'm always happy to chat :)


	9. It's Written On My Face (It's gonna Be Hard To Swallow)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> I'm really sorry I missed last weeks update, I haven't been feeling great and I just couldn't seem to finish it. 
> 
> I also want to take a moment to thank everyone who has been reading this story and leaving comments and kudos it really motivates me to write more, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you!
> 
> Anyways here is Chapter 9, I hope you enjoy!  
> Let me know what you think of it :)
> 
> Title is from 'Secrets' By Pink.

‘No. No. It’s fine.’ Sara said, taking a deep breath.

 

‘My mother and sister died in a car accident. My dad started drinking and never stopped.’

 

‘Oh. Oh wow. Sara I’m sorry.’ Ava said, leaning in and taking Sara’s fidgeting hands in her own.

 

Ava didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do. If Sara had been living at the park since she was 14, it obviously happened a while back, but Ava could still see the pain swirling inside Sara’s eyes.

 

The smaller blonde’s eyes snapped to their intertwined hands and Ava felt her hands twitch, but she didn’t pull away. Sara’s eyes found Ava’s again and the look on her face told her everything she needed to know. It was the look of someone who was still immensely hurting, who hadn’t dealt with anything and had just pushed the pain away.

 

Ava recognised that look. Recognised it from the mirror. The difference was that she had dealt with her demons, with the help of Lily, and eventually moved past it enough to be able to look in the mirror without wanting to avert her eyes immediately.

 

‘Don’t be sorry, Ava. It was a long time ago.’ Sara said, trying to keep the tremor from her voice.

 

The taller girl cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

 

‘Obviously it still causes you pain. Rightfully so. You don’t have to hide that.’

 

Sara looked at their hands again. She wasn’t used to someone looking through her mask. And she sure as hell wasn’t used to someone calling her out on her behaviour. It made her uncomfortable and yet, she craved it.

 

But, Sara being Sara, she wouldn’t admit that it actually felt good to talk about it. She focused on the part that made her uncomfortable and figured she had shared enough tonight already. So, Sara shrugged and brushed it off.

 

‘Yeah, well. Everyone has baggage.’ She said in a dismissive tone.

 

Ava understood the message. Sara didn’t want to talk about it. Sara never wanted to talk about it. If this was any other day, Ava would have pushed a little harder. But Sara had already shared a lot tonight and she could see the determination wash  over her. Ava figured she would save her breath, there would be other times to talk about this.

 

‘Okay. I’m here when you want to talk.’ She said, letting go of Sara’s hands and bringing the wine glass up to her lips again to take a sip.

 

Ava could swear Sara almost pouted at seeing Ava pull back her hands. It was gone almost as soon as it had appeared, but Ava knew what she saw.

 

Ava surprised even herself when she realised she was able to completely let it go. She knew she wanted to talk about it eventually and she had a feeling Sara wouldn’t actually mind that much when it came down to it. But, for now Ava was able to let it go.

 

She saw relief sweep over Sara’s features when the smaller girl realised it too and they ended up having an amazingly fun night.

 

They drank about four bottles of wine together and talked the whole night away. Now Ava knew Sara had been living at the park for so long, she could share a lot more stories from her childhood and it felt good to do so.

 

Sara realised she liked talking about it quite a bit. Mick and Snart were the ones who knew the most, but even they didn’t know some of the trouble she got herself into and it felt good to tell someone.

 

Most of the stories were hilarious anyways and a lot of time was spent with Sara laughing too hard to continue talking and Ava grinning like an idiot while continuing to ask Sara what happened.

 

They also, and Sara should have seen that coming, talked about their project for a while. Ava took advantage of the fact that Sara had too much alcohol in her system to drive away, so really she was trapped.

 

Sara groaned and pretended Ava was ruining their fun night, but secretly she didn’t mind all that much. She actually kept up with the schedule that Ava gave her, not that the taller blonde would ever know, and it turned out they were mostly finished with the first draft anyways.

 

Sara normally didn’t even know about the project until about one week before the deadline and she usually either spent that last week looking for a person she could seduce into letting her join their group, if it was a group project. Or she spent the night before throwing together some half-assed essay that would surprisingly enough almost always earn her a pretty good grade.

 

But now they still had four weeks until the deadline. Ava claimed this was a good thing because ‘midterms were coming up’ and by ‘coming up’ she meant they still had six weeks. Sara rolled her eyes a lot during that period of the night and when she commented on it, Ava grinned devilishly and told her that is how she usually felt around Sara and how nice it was to have the tables turned for once.

 

The next day Lily found them, asleep on the couch with empty wine bottles strewn around them. She snickered to herself when she vaguely recognised the other girl from the Waverider. The one that Ava claimed she didn’t like. Obviously things changed.

 

Lily went to the kitchen to brew them some coffee and when she was done she threw a pillow to Ava’s face to let her know. Lily was not on the soccer team for a reason, she had terrible aim and this time it resulted in the pillow hitting Sara square in the face.

 

‘OI! What the fuck?!’ Sara yelled as she sprung up, fists raised to fend off possible attackers.

 

When she realised her attacker was a brunette who stood still opposite her with eyes wide, she dropped her hands to her sides and raised an expectant eyebrow at the girl.

 

‘Yeah, that was meant for Ava, but your yelling probably woke her up too. I made coffee?’ Lily quickly said, not wanting to anger the small blonde any further.

 

‘Ava and I are literally on opposite ends of the couch?!’ Sara yelled again, wildly gesturing between said women.

 

Before Lily could open her mouth to probably make the situation worse, a groggy voice sounded from behind them.

 

‘Lily has terrible aim. Stop yelling. My head is going to explode.’

 

‘You’re such a lightweight.’ Said both Sara and Lily in unison, before smirking to each other.

 

Ava shushed them and cradled her head in her hands, groaning. Sara thought t was adorable, Lily rolled her eyes.

 

‘Hey. I’m sorry for throwing a pillow in your face. I’m Lily.’ She said sheepishly.

 

‘It’s fine, I’ve had worse. I’m Sara.’

 

‘Yeah I can tell. I mean that pillow is firm, but it wouldn’t leave such a bruise.’ Lily said, pointing to Sara’s face.

 

Sara snickered at that. Damnit, she liked this girl.

 

‘Yeah well, you should have seen the other guy.’ She said for the second time in 24 hours and wiggled her hands at the brunette so she could see her bruised knuckles.

 

Lily actually laughed at that and Sara found it refreshing to have someone who could joke about it instead of being instantly worried.

 

‘I wouldn’t expect anything less from a girl who skipped the first 10 percent of her lectures to prove a point.’ Lily said, smirking.

 

Sara laughed, yes they could become great friends.

 

‘Why is it so fucking bright in here can someone turn off the lights.’ Ava groaned.

 

‘Oh honey, no. The lights aren’t on.’ Lily said, which earned another groan from Ava’s mouth.

 

‘Then turn off the fucking sun.’ Ava retorted childishly and Sara snickered,

 

‘Yeah you laugh now, but watch out Ava can be a real bitch when she’s hungover from wine. You could say she gets really…whiny..’ Lily said, grinning like an idiot and raising her eyebrows expectantly.

 

Sara doubled over laughing and Ava made sounds of protest that sounded a little too much like whines. 

 

Lily grinned and walked to the kitchen to pour them all some coffee. She pushed the mug quickly into Ava’s hands and immediately took a few steps back. Sara walked to the kitchen and started rummaging through cupboards in search of a frying pan and some eggs. Eggs were the best cure for a hangover.

 

The three of the had breakfast together. Lily and Sara did enough talking for all three of them and Ava just listened grumpily. It wasn’t fair that she was the only one with a pounding head and a queasy stomach.

 

Sara left around 4 pm. She hugged Lily goodbye, promising to invite her along the next time they went to a club. Ava walked Sara to het bike and Ava shyly went in for a hug as well.

 

Sara smirked as she lightly traced along Ava’s upper back with one hand, while the other stayed on her lower back, a little lower than would be considered platonic. She stood up on her tippy toes and tilted her head so her mouth brushed over Ava’s ear.

 

‘I had a wonderful time, Ava Sharpe.’ She whispered in the taller girl’s ear, before softly kissing her cheek.

 

Ava had to bite her lip and close her eyes at the feeling of Sara’s hot breath on her ear. When Sara pulled away, it took every ounce of self-control not to pull the smaller girl in for a real kiss. She didn’t think Sara would mind, but Ava didn’t want it to happen like this.

 

Ava did want it to happen, she wanted a lot more than just a kiss. But she also didn’t want that. Because she liked spending time with Sara and if she let that happen it would probably stop. Sara would have her thrill of getting the strict, stuck up girl, squirming underneath her. But when that passed Sara would tire of it and leave Ava for the next challenge.

 

It wouldn’t be the first time it happened.

 

So, Ava fought it. Fought the heat spreading through her when She felt Sara trace patterns on her back. Fought the blush rising in her cheeks at the thought of where those lips would be of much better service. And she fought her own arms that desperately wanted to hold on to Sara.

 

But she didn’t. Instead she smiled and handed Sara her helmet.

 

‘Bye Sara Lance, I’ll see you in class.’

 

Sara smirked, knowing full well what affect her little stunt had on Ava. She put the helmet on and hopped on her bike, revving it to life and pulled out of the parking lot.

 

Sara wasn’t one to wait with going after what she wanted. If it had been anyone else last night, Sara would have had her way with them and they would have loved it. But something stopped her every time. Something about Ava made her want to go slow, made her want to savour every second.

 

She wasn’t stupid. Hell even blind people could see Ava was crushing on her. Hard. But she could also see the hesitation in Ava’s eyes and she knew Ava would give in if Sara completely turned on her charm, but she feared what would happen after.

 

The last thing she wanted was to make the taller girl uncomfortable. So, for now Sara was content with teasing and flustering her. That was really fun to do too.

 

 

 

 

They continued this little dance for the next few weeks. They hung out on the weekends, Sara usually came over to Ava’s on Friday evening and went home as Sunday came to an end. They never really planned for it, but from one thing came another and neither girls really minded.

 

It helped that Lily and Sara became really good friends, so Ava liked to fool herself into thinking Sara wasn’t just staying for her. It was a comfortable rhythm and both girls go used to having the other around.

 

The legends didn’t mind that Sara wasn’t around as much anymore. They saw how much more Sara smiled. Constantine said it was disgusting.

 

They’d also changed the rhythm of their side business. Constantine now took the weekends of dealing at the Waverider, so Sara could spent that time at Ava’s. He had agreed to it after a lot of persuasion and only if Sara took care of everything else. That meant no steady rhythm for Sara.

 

She had to make sure the shipments got in okay, were divided into smaller packets that John could sneak into the club and make sure everything went smoothly. Besides that, she had to cover if there was an event or something that attracted a lot of people.

 

She was also the one people called when they wanted to buy some for their own use outside of the club nights. Sara didn’t actually go to supply it herself, she had other people to do that for her. That guy Sara met at the opening night of the Waverider, Nate, started making some cash dealing for her. She liked him, he was loyal and honest and she had a feeling they could rely on him.

 

So, she didn’t have to physically go, but she had to set it up and that meant always keeping her phone on. Sara was not getting that much sleep. But it was all worth it when she spent her weekends at Ava’s

 

On top of that, Sara started coming early on Mondays and Thursdays to watch the soccer team train. Of course she didn’t say it as blatantly, she always had some kind of excuse. Like the time it was ‘just too sunny to study in the library’. As if no one knew Sara Lance didn’t study. Ava didn’t mind, so she didn’t comment on the ridiculous excuses Sara came up with.

 

When Ava got out of the shower, Sara would always be standing there with two cups of coffee. How she figured out exactly how Ava drank her coffee, she didn’t know, but she got it right. A cappuccino with a shot of hazelnut syrup.

 

This Thursday was no different.

 

‘Thanks’ Ava said as Sara handed her the coffee.

 

Sara smiled and fell into step besides Ava.

 

‘So, I was thinking.’ Sara started.

 

Ava glanced over at her. The smaller blonde was looking down at her coffee cup, fingers playing with the lid.

 

‘We have been hanging out for some time now and I was wondering if I could take you out on a real date?’ She said, trying really hard to sound confident, but it came out a little too breathy to make it believable.

 

Ava smiled to herself, she liked the thought of this small over-confident blonde, feeling nervous to ask her on a date. It was that nervousness that made Ava decide to give it a try. Maybe Sara wasn’t as bad as she thought. Maybe she wouldn’t run away right after. Maybe she actually liked Ava as much as Ava liked her.

 

‘I would love to.’ She answered, smiling softly down at the blonde.

 

‘But I’m not wearing a dress!’ She quickly added, not feeling like sitting in a fancy restaurant in an uncomfortable dress.

 

Sara relaxed her shoulders in relief, and then smirked at the thought of Ava in a dress.

 

‘No. No. Wear sturdy boots. And a leather jacket.’ Sara said.

 

Ava’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline and a devilish smile broke out on her face.

 

‘Kinky much, Miss Lance?’

 

And finally, finally, Ava managed to make Sara squirm. The smaller girl closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths as a blush spread from her cheeks to her neck. Almost as if she actually wanted… No. Ava’s mind really shouldn’t go there. The wonderful moment continued as Sara started stuttering to explain herself.

 

‘No – I mean… Fuck uhm – I wanted – I thought we could go riding and picknick somewhere or something. So that’s way the boots.’ Sara stammered and Ava decided she wasn’t done playing with her yet.

 

‘And the jacket? Is that just for personal enjoyment?’ She said teasingly.

 

Sara smirked at that.

 

‘Oh I would love to see you in nothing but leather.’ She said, still blushing at the thought.

 

‘But it helps against the wind.’ She added.

 

‘I know.’ She said and Sara, being the child she was, stuck out her tongue at Ava.

 

‘I don’t have a bike, you know that right?’ Ava said.

 

She wouldn’t actually mind all that much sitting behind Sara, but if they were going to cruise, it would be nice to be able to ride next to her.

 

‘No, I know. I asked Zari, we can borrow hers. But she specifically said only you were allowed to ride her bike, because apparently I’m not careful enough.’ Sara answered, rolling her eyes.

 

Ava laughed at that and Sara lightly punched her on the arm.

 

‘Don’t be rude.’ The smaller blonde said when Ava didn’t stop laughing.

 

‘Well. I mean, she’s not wrong!’ Ava said, pushing Sara’s arm away when the smaller girl tried to punch her again.

 

‘But, all jokes aside. I would love to go riding with you.’ Ava said, smiling softly at Sara.

 

Sara flashed her a happy smile.

 

‘Great! This Saturday?’ She asked, enthusiasm evident in her voice.

 

‘Yes Saturday is perfect. I’ll drive to the park and then we can leave from there? What time?’ Ava asked.

 

‘That’d be nice. How does 10 sound? We have the full day if we leave a little early.’ Sara said.

 

She knew Ava was a morning person, so it wouldn’t be a problem, but she wasn’t sure Ava would want to spent the entire day with her. All Sara’s hesitation went out the window when the taller girl smiled happily at her, twinkles in her eyes.

 

‘It sounds great, Sara, I’ll be there at 10.’ Ava said.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Next chaper will finally be a real date ;)
> 
> My tumblr is [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/) I would love to chat!


	10. That's Just The Way You Make Me Feel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> I had a week off and instead of doing my assignments and catching upto college, I have been writing!   
> So we'll see how that goes when midterms come lmao.   
> It's really rainy and windy here and I absolutely love it.
> 
> This chapter is a bit longer, to make up for the fact that I missed a week!  
> I quite like this chapter, actually, so I hope you do too!
> 
> So enjoy! And please let me know what you thought of it! I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions!
> 
> Title is from 'make me feel' by the marvelous Janelle Monae

Friday was stressful for both girls.

 

Since they were going on an actual date, Sara didn’t come over on Friday and Ava spent the rest of the day worrying about everything. She didn’t know what to wear, she didn’t know what to bring, she didn’t know what to do with herself.

 

After the 70th exasperated sigh that day, Lily walked into her room, without knocking as usual.

 

‘I can hear you sighing from the couch. What’s going on?’

 

Ava looked over at Lily, desperation clearly visible in her eyes.

 

‘I have nothing to wear!’ She said, throwing her hands up in defeat.

 

The brunette pointedly looked at the gigantic heap of clothes that had accumulated themselves on Ava’s bed and raised an eyebrow.

 

‘I don’t have The Right Thing to wear.’ Ava said, again throwing her hands up.

 

Lily walked over to the heap of clothes and started rummaging through them.

 

‘Because I’m an amazing friend, I’m willing to help. You are gonna go riding yeah?’

 

Ava nodded in confirmation as she stepped aside to give Lily the space she needed. She started tapping her foot and nervously biting her nails.

 

‘Stop that Ava, you’re making me nervous.’

 

The blonde rolled her eyes, but stopped biting her nails.

 

‘Okay. Definitely your leather boots, those are badass. And you want comfortable jeans made from a bit thicker material, so you don’t get cold.’ Lily continued, ignoring Ava’s sigh.

 

She rummaged through the heap until she found a few she liked. The brunette held them up one by one and in the end Ava chose black leather pants. After all, Sara did kind of ask for this and Ava wasn’t one to disappoint. Lily also said they hugged her ass perfectly.

 

‘Okay and now a top.’ Lily said and she continued searching through Ava’s clothes.

 

‘Oh! Yes this one.’ The brunette said, turning around with a black, long sleeved turtleneck in her hands.

 

Ava had to admit, Lily was good.

 

‘Thank you Lily.’ Ava sighed relieved.

 

She took the selected items and placed them on a chair, before she started folding the rest of her clothes and putting them back into her closet. Lily stood in the doorway, observing Ava for a little while.

 

‘Why are you this nervous anyways? You’ve been on dates before.’ She asked, not wanting the anxiousness to eat Ava up inside.

 

Lily was right and Ava had her suspicions about why she was this nervous. The dates she had been on were mostly set up by Lily and it usually ended after that one date. This was the first time in a long time, she went on a date with someone she really liked.

 

When she told Lily as much, the brunette nodded, understanding shining in her eyes.

 

‘I know Aves, but this isn’t gonna end like that. I’ve seen the way Sara looks at you. That’s real Ava. You have to trust that at some point.’ Lily said, trying to reassure the blonde.

 

Ava sighed and rubbed her eyes.

 

‘I know Lil. I just don’t want to mess this up.’

 

Lily walked over to Ava and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

 

‘You won’t. I think it takes a lot to scare Sara away, your nerves won’t do it.’

 

Ava reached to her shoulder and grabbed Lily’s hand as she turned to look the brunette in the eyes.

 

‘Thanks Lily.’ She said, before grinning ‘Now get out, I have a lot of stuff to do.’

 

 

 

 

Sara didn’t even have time to think about the date until she was getting up at 8 am Saturday to get ready.

 

Constantine had been complaining about spotting a few goons from the Darkhs around the Waverider and now that she was free on Friday he made her come with him to show the others they weren’t backing off.

 

As Constantine had said, a few guys from the Darkhs were there, including Nora, the daughter of the big boss. Sara liked Nora, in a weird way, she felt like they would’ve made a great team had she just not been born under such a horrible father.

 

The night went pretty well, They didn’t run into any real trouble. The Darkhs tried to get them to leave but Sara, Constantine and Nate stood their ground and eventually they let them be. They got home quite late and she ended up getting only about five hours of sleep.

 

She woke up wondering why the fuck she needed to get up this early, but when she remembered that it was Ava who she was getting up for, a wide smile broke out on her face. She threw the covers from her body and skipped to the shower, humming under her breath.

 

She dressed herself in baggy jeans and a long-sleeved shirt that had a few buttons at the top. She decided to wear her soft leather boots, the laces of which she wrapped around her ankle a few times. She did her hair up in two braids, she liked it when her hair was out of her face if she was riding for longer.

 

She wrapped two facemasks around her wrist, in case Ava didn’t have one and threw her leather jacket on. Sara walked out of the cabin to get some breakfast and prepare their lunch.

 

Nerves were fluttering in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t know why, Sara Lance didn’t get nervous. But Ava was different. Ava looked at her with a softness that Sara had never experienced. Ava looked at her like she wouldn’t mind it if Sara wasn’t always strong and tough. Ava looked at her like she saw exactly who Sara was and didn’t want to change a thing. And Sara didn’t want to mess that up.

 

Sara finished everything with just a few minutes to spare and quickly walked to the entrance of the park. She put the bags containing their lunch in the compartment beneath the seat of her bike and waited for Ava to arrive.

 

Ava was exactly on time, as was to be expected. She got out of the car and gave Sara a shy little wave with the hand that wasn’t holding her helmet and Sara couldn’t help but stare.

 

Ava looked hot. There was no other word for it. She had obviously listened to Sara and wore leather boots and a leather jacket, but she’d gone one step further and added leather pants. Sara felt the heat rush to her cheeks and her mouth went dry. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, before mustering up the courage to walk over to Ava.

 

She hugged the taller blonde hello and felt Ava smirk against her ear.

 

‘Do you like my outfit?’ Ava said teasingly.

 

She saw how Sara reacted and she was loving the feeling of getting Sara to blush again. She heard the smaller blonde’s sharp intake of breath and decided she loved this little game.

 

‘You – uhm – You look really – I mean – Damn. You look very beautiful, Ava.’

 

Sara gulped as her eyes roamed over the taller blonde once again.

 

‘Yes. I – uhm. I – really like the jacket. And the – uhm – the pants too.’

 

Ava smirked and ran her hand through her hair.

 

‘Well you said you would like to see me in leather and I aim to please.’ Ava said with a wink.

 

Sara turned even redder at that and avoided looking into Ava’s eyes.

 

‘Consider me pleased. Because Wow.’ Sara said, motioning to Ava’s body.

 

She cleared her throat and tried to swallow away the dryness in her mouth.

 

‘Do you – uhm do you want some coffee or are you ready to leave?’ Sara said, still bright red.

 

Ava smirked again and made a show of looking at Sara with pretend concern on her face.

 

‘I’m ready to go, if you are too. I mean I can also wait for a bit while you take a cold shower? Perhaps? You look a little hot.’ She said, winking at Sara again.

 

‘You’re the one who looks hot’ The smaller girl muttered under her breath, but still loud enough for Ava to hear her.

 

The taller girl smirked again and opened her mouth to say something but Sara was faster.

 

 ‘Shut up, jerk.’ She said, holding up a finger.

 

Ava held her hands up innocently but couldn’t help the smirk that still played on her lips.

 

Sara cleared her throat again and quickly turned around as she motioned to the dark green bike.

 

‘That beauty is yours for the day.’ She said as she handed Ava the keys, letting her hand linger on Ava’s for a little longer than necessary.

 

Ava chuckled lightly and thanked Sara, before walking to the bike.

 

‘Oh, I also have a facemask for you if you want.’ Sara said as she wrapped her own canary-yellow one around her neck. 

 

Ava looked at the grey piece of cloth Sara was holding out for her. She had forgotten to take her own with her, she didn’t even remember were she put it. With a smile she reached out and took the offering.

 

‘That would be great actually, thank you.’

 

Ava moved to put the piece of cloth around her neck and was about to put the helmet on too, when she realised she hadn’t really thought this date through. They wouldn’t be able to talk when they were riding and she had no idea where Sara wanted to go.

 

The smaller blonde answered her question before she even had the chance to ask anything, when she held up two earpieces.

 

‘We can also ride in silence if you prefer that, but I thought it would be nice to be able to let you know where to go.’ Sara said, a little self-conscious.

 

She hadn’t really thought about this when she proposed to go cruising. She just knew that she wanted to _do_ something with Ava instead of sit in a restaurant and talk all night. They had been doing that for a few weeks now, well minus the restaurant, and she wanted to change it up for their first real date.

 

‘No, that’s smart.’ Ava said, pulling Sara out of her thoughts.

 

‘Wait. Why do you have these?’ She added after taking one of the earpieces.

 

‘Uhm – I – uhm.’ Sara stammered.

 

She couldn’t tell Ava that when they engaged in organised crime, it came in handy if they were able to hear each other.

 

‘I don’t really know actually, Zari dug them up from somewhere and gave them to me. I accepted them and didn’t ask questions.’ She lied, chuckling a bit.

 

Ava narrowed her eyes at her for a second, but then accepted the lie and put the earpiece in her ear. Sara did the same and then switched them on.

 

‘So, whenever I say something you hear it without me having to press some kind of button like they always do in movies?’ Ava asked, curious to how these things worked.

 

Sara was trained in not reacting to a voice inside her ear. Ava, however, was not. So, when Sara voiced her confirmation, Ava’s free hand flew to her ear and her face scrunched up in shock.

 

‘Okay. That’s really weird. It’s like you’re inside me – ‘ She said.

 

‘ – not like that, Lance.’ She added when Sara raised her eyebrows suggestively.

 

‘How are you not even flinching?’

 

Sara shrugged nonchalantly.

 

‘I played around with them with Zari, when she gave them to me. Got used to it.’ She lied easily.

 

This time Ava accepted the lie without narrowed eyes and Sara almost felt guilty. She had a legitimate reason to keep this information from Ava; she couldn’t go around telling people that while they worked in customer service, she participated in organised crime.

 

If she was being honest, she knew Ava wasn’t just ‘people’ anymore and she probably deserved the truth. The worst it could do was scaring Ava away, because Sara was sure Ava wouldn’t go to the police. But the threat of losing Ava was enough to keep Sara’s mouth shut tight.

 

Another thing that kept her from telling Ava the truth, was that Sara liked to fool herself into thinking she’d had no choice. That she couldn’t have manipulated her life into turning out differently and that they had to turn to crime in order to stay afloat. Deep in her heart she knew it wasn’t true and Ava would see through that right away and Sara wasn’t ready for that.

 

‘Where are we going anyways?’ Ava said, pulling Sara out of her thoughts for the second time that morning.

 

Now it was Sara’s time to smirk.

 

‘You’ll have to wait and see.’ She said, a mischievous twinkle shining in her eye.

 

Ava rolled her eyes.

 

‘Jerk.’ She said as she stalked past Sara towards her bike for the day.

 

Sara just smirked and turned around to follow Ava towards her own bike.

 

‘Just follow my lead Sharpie.’ She said, before pushing the helmet over her head and securing her facemask.

 

 

 

 

Ava told herself to just relax and have fun, but it proved to be a lot harder than she thought. Now that this was officially a date something had suddenly shifted. The easiness and light-hearted flirting now had a more serious undertone. Ava liked it, it was thrilling, but it was also a bit difficult getting used to the new dynamics.

 

Ava had given up on trying to find out where they were going after the first 5 times she asked and Sara wouldn’t budge. They rode in a comfortable silence, both girls enjoying the feeling of being out on the open road.

 

Ava forgot how amazing it felt to cruise like this. She’d gotten her license, but hadn’t been able to save up enough to buy herself a bike. She had also gotten her car driving license and her parents had given her a car the birthday before she went off to college. They thought a car was more practical than a bike and caused way less accidents and Ava had to agree with them on that.  

 

In high school she’d had some friends that owned bikes, which was why she got her license in the first place, and she used to go cruising with them. But they had lost touch and in college she hadn’t met anyone interesting that owned a bike. Until now. Maybe she should start looking at a bike of her own.

 

It had been a while for Sara as well. Of course, she took her bike everywhere and therefore rode all the time, but she hadn’t cruised like this in a long time. After the night she had, it was a welcoming change. The fact that Ava was riding right beside her made it so much better.

 

Sara had picked a route that she knew wouldn’t have much traffic on them and would take them through quiet nature. She couldn’t see Ava’s face but every other moment she would hear a content sigh through her earpiece.

 

It was nearing 1 pm when they made the last turn that lead them to where Sara planned to have lunch. Her belly was grumbling and she guessed Ava’s must be as well. They slowed to a stop and both girls took their helmets and facemasks off at the same time.

 

‘Where are we?’ Ava asked.

 

Sara looked at Ava in awe. Her blonde hair, slightly frizzy from the helmet, flowed around her face. A few strands were standing in different directions, making her look adorable. Ava tilted her head and closed her eyes to enjoy the warmth of the sun on her face. A content, relaxed smile was playing on her face and Sara couldn’t look away, mesmerised by those full lips.

 

‘Sara?’

 

Sara finally dragged her eyes from Ava’s lips to find the taller girl’s eyes trained on her. Sara licked her lips and quickly looked down at her feet, cheeks a bit red.

 

‘Sorry. You look cute with your hair dishevelled from the helmet.’ Sara admitted, looking onto Ava’s eyes again.

 

Ava’s hands immediately flew to her hair, trying to smooth it out, while her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth in concentration and that made Sara’s eyes go to Ava’s lips again.

 

After a little while of Ava making her hair worse while trying to make it better and Sara trying not to giggle, she walked over to Ava. She grabbed Ava’s hands and pushed them down to her sides. Then she smoothed down the taller girl’s hair herself and brushed a few strands of hair that fell into her face behind her ears. Her fingers lingered on Ava’s cheek a little longer than they had to, but Ava made no move to stop her.

 

‘We’re at the beach.’ Sara said, letting her hands fall to her own sides again.

 

Ava cleared her throat and dragged her eyes away from Sara’s to finally look at her surroundings. She couldn’t see the ocean yet, it was hidden from view by dunes that stretched before them. She could, however, smell the ocean, the strong salty scent was unmistakable.

 

‘Well, we’re near the beach. It’s a 15 minute walk from here.’ Sara said, breathing in the salty air.

 

Sara walked over to her bike again and took two bags out of the compartment beneath the seat. She turned around to face Ava, holding them up and smiling proudly.

 

‘Lunch!’

 

Ava grinned excitedly as her belly growled in response. She walked over to Sara and took one of the bags.

 

‘Lead the way, Miss Lance.’

 

 

 

 

Ava didn’t think the small swath of sand had the right to call itself a beach, but it was perfect. It was completely hidden from view by dunes and bushes and you had to look really hard to find the ‘path’ that lead them here.

 

‘How the hell did you find this place?’ Ava asked, looking around with wonder shining in her eyes.

 

Sara shrugged.

 

‘Went riding one day. Started walking when riding became impossible. Ended up here.’

 

Ava nodded in understanding.

 

‘Sounds like a silver lining to a shitty day.’

 

Sara smiled in confirmation. She opened the bag she held and took out a blanket, which she rolled out on the sand. She rummaged through the bag and took out two plates and two cups, which she placed carefully onto the blanket.

 

Sara then motioned towards the bag still I Ava’s hands. She handed it to Sara and stood back as she watched the smaller blonde take out sandwiches, snacks and drinks for them. It was adorable to see the normally so tough girl, fussing over where she put what, all the while making sure she didn’t get any sand on it.

 

When everything stood the way Sara wanted it to, she beckoned Ava over.

 

‘I almost bought some fruit juice, but then thought better of it. I hope you like tonic.’ Sara said, a teasing grin on her face.

 

Ava plopped down next to Sara on the blanket.

 

‘Jerk. I love tonic. And you got Hummus! And carrots to dip?! Lance, you’re making me think you actually pay attention to what I say.’ Ava teased back, grinning.

 

Sara stuck out her tongue.

 

‘How can I forget. You only told me like eighty times. Besides you have to stay healthy somehow, without fruit.’

 

Ava rolled her eyes.

 

‘And that’s coming from a woman who practically lives on caffeine.’

 

Sara smirked at that.

 

‘But I still eat my fruits and veggies. Can’t say the same for you.’ She said with a wink.

 

Ava shoved Sara, but the smaller girl only swayed a little as she laughed. Ava was too mesmerised by the crinkles around Sara’s eyes to care about her failed attempt. She didn’t get to see the smaller girl smile like this often and Ava instantly knew it was something she wanted to treasure.

 

The ate, talked and laughed until both girls felt like their bellies were about to explode. Ava let herself fall backwards on the blanket, landing on something hard. She groaned as she lifted her back and awkwardly removed the thing that was digging into her spine out from under her. It was Sara’s phone. She didn’t mean to look, but she accidently pushed on the power button and the screen flashed up, showing a message from someone named Nate.

 

_Boss. Need more Special K._

Ava frowned. Why would this Nate guy be asking for cereal. And why was he calling Sara ‘boss’.

 

‘What is it? Is that my phone?’ Sara asked, when she caught Ava frowning at the device.

 

‘Yeah, sorry, didn’t mean to look. Some guy needs cereal or something?’ Ava said, confused look still on her face, as she handed Sara the phone.

 

Sara looked at her in confusion for a second, before looking down and reading the message for herself. Understanding dawned on her and she felt her cheeks start to burn. There it was again, a reminder that Ava very much did not know what Sara’s life consisted off.

 

Sara thanked the gods she didn’t believe in, that Nate had remembered to use the code name and that Ava was too innocent to know what Special K really meant. Ketamine. Drugs.

 

‘Uhh. Yeah maybe we’re out at the park.’ Sara lied smoothly.

 

‘I didn’t know a guy named Nate also lived at the park? Also they can’t get it themselves?’ Ava asked, lifting her head to look over at Sara.

 

‘Uhm Yeah, Nate doesn’t have his own cabin, but he is there all the time.’ Sara said, unlocking the phone to type back a message.

 

_that fast? ill make sum calls abt getting em to supply more but for now make it work im busy 2day_

‘Why did he call you ‘boss’ anyways?’ Ava continued asking questions.

 

Sara smirked at that.

 

‘Cos’ I’m in charge of course.’ She replied, winking.

 

Nate texted back a thumbs up emoji and Sara pocketed her phone. She looked up in time to see Ava rolling her eyes at her again, but smiling all the while.

 

Sara scooted over and lay down next to Ava. She closed her eyes and they stayed silent like that for a few minutes.

 

‘Thank you. For this. It’s amazing here.’ Ava said softly, turning her head to look at Sara.

 

Sara opened her eyes and looked into Ava’s grey blue ones.

 

‘I’ve never taken anyone here.’ Sara said, turning on her side and resting on her elbow so she looked slightly down at the taller girl.

 

Ava saw the truth behind the simple statement. This was Sara’s little safe haven. The place where she could go, to escape the real world. And Sara deemed Ava special enough to show it to her. She pushed herself up on her elbows too.

 

‘Thank you. For trusting me enough to show me.’ Ava said.

 

Sara’s eyes flicked down to Ava’s lips and she leaned in ever so slightly. She looked into Ava’s eyes again, looking for doubt, but finding none. When Ava raised her hand to Sara’s face and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, Sara was sure Ava wanted this just as much as she did.

 

Sara’s eyes focussed on Ava’s full lips again and leaned in even further. Ava licked her lips as one hand tangled in Sara’s hair and the other cupped her cheek. She slowly pulled Sara down towards her until she was lying on her back again and Sara was lying half on top of her, mouth a few inches away from Ava’s

 

Ava looked into Sara’s clear blue eyes as she pulled her down even more. Her eyes fluttered shut as she felt Sara’s breath ghost over her lips. She let Sara close the final gap between them and she held her breath as Sara’s lips finally touched her own.

 

They fit perfectly. Sara’s lips were soft and warm against her own and she felt like her skin was on fire. Ava started softly moving her lips and her thumb stroked along Sara’s cheek. She felt heat shoot straight through her core as Sara’s tongue swiped against her lower lip. Ava parted her lips ever so slightly and Sara took this as permission to slip her tongue into her mouth.

 

They continued their explorations, until Ava started to get lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. She pushed Sara away a little, panting lightly. Sara rested her forehead against Ava’s and opened her eyes. Ava swore they were a few shades darker.

 

Soft smiles spread on both of their faces as Sara rolled off of Ava to lay next to her again. Sara linked their hands together and bit her lip, happiness spreading through her entire body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...   
> Finally some real Avalance!! Please let me know what you thought of it!   
> I originally wasn't going to have them kiss yet, but it was so soft and it felt right to me, I hope it felt right to you too!
> 
> My tumblr is [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/) I'm always up for a chat!


	11. Happy But A Little Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> The new chapter is here!   
> You get this one fluffy chapter, before all hell is going to break loose. So enjoy heheh  
> I have mixed feelings about this one. I rewrote it a couple of times but I couldn't get it quite right so idk.   
> I hope you still enjoy this chapter tho.  
> Let me know what you think!

 

They lay next to each other like that for some time. Both girls were lost in their own mind, dopey smiles on their faces.

 

Ava felt real hope flaring in her chest. She had been worried Sara only liked the chase, but if that would be true, the smaller blonde wouldn’t be this content with just a kiss. I mean, the little patch of sand was completely hidden from view and Ava was pretty sure no one knew it even existed.

 

For the first time she saw what Lily meant when she said it wouldn’t end like that with Sara, that this was real. That Sara could even be falling for her too. She bit her lip as another wide smile spread out on her face. She’d just _kissed_ Sara Lance.

 

She couldn’t stop replaying the moment over and over again in her head. Sara’s blue eyes, soft lips and wet tongue were all Ava could think about. She wanted nothing more than to roll over and do it again and again, but she figured they had the complete day still and was content to just lie there, fingers linked together. For now.

 

Sara had similar thoughts. She’d wanted to kiss Ava from the first night they spent talking and now it finally happened. Sara didn’t think she would ever need another drug, if she could have Ava’s kisses as replacement.

 

She didn’t think she was capable of feeling this kind of excited happiness anymore, but once again all her expectations were blown aside by one tall girl named Ava Sharpe. She let her head fall to the side to look at the girl next to her.

 

She smirked as she watched Ava’s cheeks turn the slightest bit more red and a grin spread on her face. She continued looking at Ava until the taller blonde also turned her face and met her eyes.

 

‘Do you know what I want to do?’ Sara murmured.

 

Ava shook her head as she saw the mischievous glint appear in Sara’s eyes.

 

‘To go swimming.’ She said, a devilish grin appearing on her face.

 

Ava snorted and sat up.

 

‘You’re insane. First of all isn’t it way too cold? Second I don’t have my swimming wear.’ Ava said, shaking her head furiously to make her point.

 

Sara grinned, sitting up too. Ava looked adorable, her blonde hair dancing around her as she shook her head and her mouth firmly set into a pout.

 

‘I googled the sea temperature this morning and Google says it’s 58 degrees so that’s not that bad.’ Sara began.

 

Ava stopped shaking her head, but the adorable pout stayed on her face.

 

‘Second of all. Did I forget to mention you had to pack swimming gear?’ Sara said, pretending to be shocked.

 

Then Sara shrugged.

 

‘Well then we have to go skinny dipping I’m afraid.’ She added, pretend pout on her face.

 

Ava pushed her and stuck out her tongue.

 

‘In your dreams Lance.’ She said.

 

Sara bit back a laugh. Oh, Ava had no idea what her dreams were made of.

 

‘No, but seriously. I thought of it this morning, so I grabbed some towels and some sportswear. I mean unless you’re too scared.’ Sara said in a slightly mocking tone.

 

Ava scoffed.

 

‘Okay Miss Lance. You’re on.’ She said. Determination setting on her face.

 

Sara grinned excitedly. It wasn’t that hard to get Ava to do what she wanted when she knew what buttons to press. In these cases calling Ava a chicken always worked.

 

She reached over to grab the bag that contained the blanket and pulled out two beach towels, sports bra’s and pairs of shorts. She handed one of each to Ava and motioned for her to get changed.

 

‘I promise I won’t sneak a peek.’ Sara teased and made a show of turning around.

 

Ava snorted again and started removing her shirt. Sara did the same and they quickly got changed. Sara laughed as Ava started neatly folding all of her clothes, which earned her a glare from the taller girl.

 

Sara left Ava to her folding and walked to the water. She waded in to where the water got mid-thigh and there let herself get used to the coldness of the water. Ava was right, it was  pretty cold, but still swimmable.

 

She heard a gasp behind her and turned around to find Ava slowly making her way towards her.

 

‘Yeah, yeah, you were right. It’s pretty cold.’ Sara said, holding up her hands.

 

Ava nodded as she stalked towards her. Sara caught the smirk and the glint in her eye a little too late. Before she knew what happened, she felt two hands on her shoulders and then cold engulfing her whole body as she went completely under.

 

She spluttered to the surface and started coughing. She heard Ava laughing and when she finally caught her breath she shot the taller girl a death glare.

 

‘What did you do that for?!’ Sara yelled, trying to stay mad as hints of a smile broke out on her face.

 

Ava grinned before she pretended to roll out a scroll and contemplating what reason to start with.

 

Sara rolled her eyes and send some water splashing Ava’s way. The taller girl squealed and tried to run back to the beach, but Sara jumped up and threw her arms around Ava, sending them both into the water again.

 

They wrestled for a bit longer, pushing each other under and splashing water everywhere, giggling all the while. They chased each other further and further away from the beach and eventually got to a point where Sara was struggling to stand with her head above the water and Ava’s shoulders were still sticking out.

 

‘Having trouble there Sara?’ She teased.

 

Sara shot her another glare, that would be threatening if she didn’t look so cute with only half her head sticking above the water.

 

‘I know something that could help.’ Ava added softly.

 

She swam over to Sara and put her hands on the smaller girls waist. She started pulling Sara towards her and when Sara got close enough, she wrapped her legs around Ava’s waist and put her arms around the taller girl’s neck.

 

Sara’s head was on the same level as Ava’s now that the latter was supporting them both. Sara’s eyes were bluer than the ocean and completely focused on Ava. She smiled softly and started rubbing little circles on the back of Ava’s neck.

 

‘This is indeed way better than half drowning.’ Sara said with a smirk.

 

Ava blushed slightly, but smiled back softly. She traced her fingers up and down Sara’s spine, sending bolts of electricity through the smaller girl. She hummed contently and her eyes found Sara’s again, when she felt a slight pressure on the back of her head.

 

Sara looked at her with an unspoken question in her eye and Ava answered by leaning in the rest of the way. Her lips found Sara’s again and she thought it might be her new favourite thing to do.

 

She never thought she would be sensitive to addiction, but kissing Sara made her wonder if that was really true.

 

They stayed in the water like that, kissing and teasing until Ava’s lips started to turn blue from the cold. Sara smirked and teased her about getting cold so easily and Ava responded by simply throwing her away.

 

She grinned as Sara squealed and started making her way back to the shore, leaving the other girl to swim back. Sara was surprised by the ease with which Ava had been able to throw her away.

 

She knew Ava was strong, but she didn’t realise she would be able to simply pick her up out of the water and throw her away. Sara remembered Ava had told her she took some boxing classes and wondered if the taller girl would be up for having a sparring session with her some time. She made sure to remember to ask Ava, because honestly she would love to see her all sweaty and out of breath.

 

She swam after Ava back to the shore and they dried off and changed back into their normal clothes, warming up in the sun. Sara took out her braids and let her hair dry up in unruly waves that flowed all around her face and shoulders.

 

Ava kept shyly glancing over at Sara. She had been able to keep her worry at bay until now, but she was dying to talk about this new development in their relationship. She needed to know what it meant. She needed to know how Sara felt about it. But she didn’t want to ruin the bliss by asking.

 

Sara noticed something was plaguing Ava’s mind and she could guess what it was. She kept subtly ignoring Ava’s glances until she figured out how to answer what Ava was silently asking.

 

She liked Ava. She realised with a start that she really liked Ava and that she wanted whatever this was to progress and to grow. But she didn’t know if she was ready for such a commitment. Not because she couldn’t stick to it, but because there was a lot Ava didn’t know and Sara thought it was unfair to her.

 

She thought about telling Ava right then and there about the drugs and the theft, but when she looked at Ava’s honest eyes, she knew she couldn’t break her trust like that. It was selfish, Sara knew that, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted this first date at least, to be normal and perfect.

 

She would tell Ava eventually. Just not right now.

 

‘Hey uhm… Sara – I – I uhm really like kissing you.’ Ava started.

 

Sara smirked and Ava winced. It was true, but not exactly what Ava had wanted to say.

 

‘No.. Well yes I do like kissing you… but what I mean is – uhm – what is this?’ She continued.

 

She really wasn’t good at voicing her thoughts and emotions. Sara, thankfully, didn’t seem worried or offended as she smirked again.

 

‘Well, what do you want this to be?’ She said.

 

Sara was curious too as to what Ava wanted this to turn into. It was easier to read Ava than it was to read Sara, so Sara knew that Ava had begun falling for her. Normally that would send her running for the hills, leaving broken hearts behind, but now rather than scare her away, it seemed to pull her closer.

 

Strangely enough, it didn’t even scare Sara as much as she had expected it would. Of course, it was still terrifying, but it was also thrilling to have Ava fall for her while she was falling for Ava too.

 

‘I – I don’t… I mean – I don’t want it to stop.’ Ava stammered.

 

She didn’t want to be too forward, but she also wanted to make sure Sara knew that she wanted this to continue.

 

‘Me neither. I like kissing you way to much for that.’ Sara said with a wink.

 

She wanted to make Ava feel a little more comfortable and the only way she knew how to do that was to joke around a bit. She also loved to make Ava blush.

 

‘Yes. Good. Do you – I mean – what are we then?’ Ava continued.

 

She already started and now she might as well talk about everything she wanted to know and clarify. Otherwise she would regret it later and have to start an awkward conversation like this all over again.

 

‘Do you really want to label it Aves?’ Sara asked.

 

Ava looked away as she pondered the question. She was focused on figuring out how to ask Sara what she wanted that Ava hadn’t stopped to think about what she actually wanted herself.

 

The more she thought about it the more she realised that she didn’t want to label it. I mean she didn’t want to date other people or something, but she also didn’t want to rush into anything. Especially not into being in a relationship.

 

When she told Sara as much, she nodded in response.

 

‘Yeah, okay. Then let’s see where this goes, without labelling it. And I also don’t want to date other people, so that’s settled then.’ Sara said, smirking.

 

After that was out of the way, the girls fell back into simply enjoying the day and each other. They stayed on the beach until about 4.30 and then Sara proposed they started riding back to the park. She said they could stop for dinner on the way if Ava wanted to or ride home in one go and eat there. Ava told her they could just start riding and get something to eat whenever they got hungry.

 

They packed everything up and started the 15 minutes’ walk back to the bikes. Sara put everything back in the compartment under the seat and Ava marvelled at the fact Sara was able to fit so much in such a small place.

 

They put the earpieces in and the helmets on. Sara tested if the earpiece still worked and laughed when it startled Ava again.

 

They started riding, taking a slightly different route from this morning. It was shorter and with a bit less nature, but it took them past some amazing views of the city.

 

After about 2 hours of riding Ava admitted that she was starting to get a bit hungry and Sara agreed. She said she knew a nice little Italian restaurant they could grab some dinner and Ava happily agreed, saying she loved Italian food.

 

45 minutes later Sara sat happily grinning in front of a gigantic pizza and Ava was rolling her eyes while trying not to smile.

 

‘You are never going to finish that entire thing.’ Ava said.

 

Sara raised a challenging eyebrow at Ava, smirking slightly.

 

‘Wanna bet?’ She said

 

Ava grinned, confidently this wasn’t a bet Sara would be able to win.

 

‘That pizza is practically bigger than you are. Loser pays?’ Ava said, raising her eyebrow.

 

Sara smirked.

 

‘You’re on Sharpe.’ She said as she picked up a slice and started eating.

 

Ava finished her pasta chicken parmesan when Sara was about three quarters in. Ava was starting to get a bit less confident. She’d thought Sara wouldn’t make it further than half of it, but here she was, only three slices left and not showing any signs of being full.

 

Truth was, Sara was starting to have a little trouble. She made it through another slice, before she’d rather stop eating. But Sara was too stubborn for her own good and wasn’t about to lose this bet when she’d only had two slices left to eat.

 

She powered through and when she swallowed the last bite, a huge shit eating grin spread out on her face. Ava was gawking at her, which only made Sara’s grin grow tenfold. The waitress came to collect their plates and even she looked impressed.

 

‘I did not expect that. Do I need to call an ambulance? I’m pretty sure you just ate your weight in fat and oil.’ Ava said, only half joking.

 

Sara laughed and decided to have some additional fun.

 

‘No need for an ambulance. You want any desert?’ She said.

 

The flip in her tummy at the thought of having to eat even more was totally worth it when she saw Ava’s eyes widen in fear. She couldn’t contain her laughter anymore when Ava opened and closed her mouth a few times trying to find words for this amount of insanity.

 

‘Brat. Don’t do that to your heart. Or my heart for that matter.’ Ava sighed as she signalled for the waitress to bring the check.

 

Ava payed for their dinner and took Sara’s hand as she led her back to the bikes. She heard Sara sigh a few times.

 

‘You ate too much didn’t you.’ Ava said, raising her eyebrow at the smaller girl.

 

Sara looked at her guiltily.

 

‘…yes. But I also don’t like the fact that this date is almost over.’ She said with an adorable pout.

 

Ava pulled Sara close to her and softly pressed her lips on Sara’s.

 

‘It’s not over yet. And even so I’d very much like there to be a second.’ Ava whispered in Sara’s ear.

 

Sara smiled at her softly, leaning into the taller girl. Ava pressed a kiss to Sara’s forehead and softly pushed her in the direction of the bikes. Sara pouted adorably again, but did walk to her bike.

 

The kicked the engines to life and started riding the last few miles towards the trailer park.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> I'm on tumblr: [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/) I'm always up for a chat!


	12. Who You Wanna Hate Now Pretty Soon You’re Gonna Hate Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> And so the fluff ends and the angst begins...  
> I personally really like this chapter and I hope you all do as well!
> 
> I also want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has been reading and supporting this story. You really help me continue to write it and I really appreciate all of you, so from the bottom of my heart, Thank you!
> 
> Let me know what you think about this chapter, I'm really curious! :)
> 
> Title is from 'Benz Truck' by Lil Peep
> 
> I hope you enjoy

 

They were almost back at the trailer park, it was at the end of this road. They had a perfect day and Sara was full of laughter and happiness. She hadn’t felt like this in a long time, but of course Sara wasn’t allowed a break.

 

Out of nowhere three guys stepped in the middle of the empty road. Normally, Sara loved the location of the trailer park, at the end of a desolate road, where no one bothered to come. There were way less eyes that could pose problems, which made certain things a whole lot easier.

 

Now though, Sara hated that there was no one around, because Sara knew exactly who the guys were sent by. Damian Darkh. Sara mentally cursed everything, why did he have to pick this day of all days. This day was supposed to be Ava, her and the beach and now these pricks were here to ruin everything.

 

The two girls skidded to a halt about forty yards from the guys, Sara making sure she stopped in front of Ava, and they took off their helmets. Sara calmly got off the bike and placed her helmet on top off the saddle. She stared the three guys down as she mentally prepared for the fight that would inevitably come.

 

Ava ran over to where Sara was standing, not understanding why those men stopped them and definitely not understanding why Sara wasn’t saying anything. She was eerily calm and it unnerved Ava.

 

‘Uhm. Could you guys let us pass?’ She yelled.

 

The three men just chuckled.

 

‘A bold one. I like her, she yours Lance?’ The one in the middle yelled back.

 

Ava’s heartrate shot up, but she was determined not to let her fear show. Something was very wrong, Ava could feel it in her bones.

 

‘I am my own person. I don’t belong to anyone.’ She replied, trying to appear as cold as possible.

 

The three men appeared to know who Sara was and Ava wondered how Sara got involved with such obvious douchebags. She looked at the smaller girl and was about to ask her, but the look on Sara’s face stopped her.

 

Sara was staring straight ahead, burning holes in the three men. From afar she seemed relaxed, but Ava saw her nostrils flare in anger and her hand twitching at her sides.

 

‘Oohh. Boss just wanted Lance, but this should be fun. I like it when they fight back.’ The one in the middle said as he elbowed the others lightly in the sides.

 

That did it for Sara. She knew exactly what they meant by ‘fun’ and she would die before she let anyone hurt a woman like that, especially Ava.

 

‘Get the fuck behind me Ava. Now.’ She growled to the taller blonde.

 

Ava, of course, didn’t listen and stood her ground next to Sara. Ava looked around for anything or anyone that could possibly help, but she found nothing. The men picked a good spot and she wondered how they knew where the two girls would be.

 

The three men let out bellowing laughs.

 

‘So protective. She must be special.’ The middle guy said again and the others laughed even more at that.

 

Sara took one step forward, so she was technically between Ava and the guys, and the taller blonde fought not to roll her eyes.

 

Sara appeared to have a clue what this was about and Ava was getting impatient with being left out. She wasn’t stupid, this looked like it was about to get real dangerous, real fast. A series of questions raced through her brain, but Ava pushed them away. They needed to get out of here first, she could ask questions later.

 

The only thing that kept the rising panic at bay, was the fact that the smaller blonde in front of her stayed calm. Even if it was a scary kind of calm, it made her feel a little bit better to see that the smaller blonde didn’t seem fazed.

 

‘What do you want.’ Sara’s cold voice sounded.

 

She spoke softly, without raising her voice. It made her sound ten times more dangerous. Ava would be lying if she said she wasn’t impressed and a little scared. She had never seen this side of Sara before and she suddenly understood what people meant when they said Sara could be extremely intimidating.

 

‘Let’s say our boss just wants to have a little chat.’ The one in the middle spoke again, he seemed to be the leader of this little posse.

 

‘About what.’ Sara said.

 

Ava noticed she didn’t ask the questions, she commanded them to tell her. It was terrifying.

 

‘About business of course. He noticed you have been pushing at the borders of our territory and he wants you to stop. We have been ordered to bring you to him so he can… make that clear…’ The leader said.

 

Ava was getting more and more confused with every passing second. What did those guys mean by ‘territory’ and what kind of business were they talking about. Sara didn’t seem impressed, she just lifted her chin, arms calmly hanging at her sides.

 

‘How did you know we’d be here?’ Ava asked.

 

She wasn’t able to keep her curiosity contained any longer and if Sara wasn’t going to give her any answers, she might as well ask the men. Sara glared at her, which Ava ignored and the leader gave an impressed chuckle.

 

‘Your idiot friend Ray has a huge crush on Nora. You really shouldn’t tell hi –‘ one of the other guys started explaining, before the one in the middle elbowed him in his side. ‘

 

‘Shut up you dumb fuck.’ He hissed as the one he’d hit doubled over coughing.

 

Sara looked at Ava questioningly and Ava was tempted to ignore it, just as Sara had been doing, but she decided to be the bigger person.

 

‘Ray is a good friend of Lily. Why are you so important to these men?’ She said under her breath

 

Sara nodded in understanding but ignored Ava’s question. Sara knew the cat was out of the bag now, there was no beating around the bush with this one. She knew she had to tell Ava the truth, if she’d even listen. But first she focussed on the more important matters at hand. Getting the hell out of here.

 

She noticed the men had their bikes standing to the side of the road and wondered how long they’d been standing there. She knew if they simply turned around and fled, the guys would come after them. Alone, Sara would be able to outrun them easily, but she wasn’t sure if Ava could keep up with her and she didn’t want to take any chances. She wouldn’t be able to protect her as well when she was riding.

 

Sara’s brain worked overtime. She didn’t understand why Damian suddenly felt the need to protect his territory like this. The two gangs had always been pushing and pulling at each other’s borders. Of course it had clashed a few times, which resulted in fights, but that was always when they ran into each other on accident.

 

She’d never been targeted like this, nor had anyone else from the Legends. So, why would he suddenly have his minions try to kidnap her. If they wanted to overthrow the whole gang, they would’ve come to the park and try to wipe them out there. Not that it would have worked, because they were prepared for these kinds of hypotheticals.

 

Unless of course, Damian was trying to hurt them one by one, because he knew he couldn’t take on the entire gang. But then he would know they would retaliate and if he thought he couldn’t take on all of them, he wouldn’t provoke them.

 

Honestly, Sara was at a loss.

 

‘If you come quietly, we’ll go easy on you and your friend.’ The leader promised teasingly, interrupting Sara’s train of thought.

 

Sara cocked her head to one side and smiled dangerously.

 

‘When did a legend ever go quietly.’ She answered.

 

Ava rolled her eyes again. The whole situation was so ridiculous and then Sara casually said something like that. It was surreal.

 

The guy in the middle shrugged.

 

‘Suit it yourself.’

 

They started walking towards them and Sara quickly shrugged off her leather jacket and reached over to her bike. She grabbed some sort of tube and gave it a twist, which turned it into a long staff. Ava gawked at her, questions shining in her eyes.

 

‘I’m serious Ava. Get. Behind me.’ The smaller girl said.

 

‘I can handle myself Sara.’ Ava said.

 

‘Not with these guys you can’t. Please. I don’t want you getting hurt.’ Sara pleaded.

 

Ava reluctantly took a step back. She hated not being able to do anything to help, but she trusted Sara’s judgement. If Sara said these guys were too much, they were too much. Well, with her fists they were. A plan began forming in the back of Ava’s mind.

 

One of the guys was getting ahead of the other’s and Sara took advantage of that by running his way and hitting him square in the chest with the end of the staff. The guy stumbled backwards, yelling in surprise and pain. Sara didn’t waste any time, hitting his legs out from under him by sweeping the staff low over the ground. The guy landed flat on his bag and stayed there, groaning in pain.

 

Sara didn’t have time to gloat as the other two men caught up and now circled around her. They saw how fast she took down the first guy and they were a little more wary now. Sara tried to hit one up the head with the staff, but he ducked under it. The other one made use of the opportunity to kick her in the back of the legs. She fell to her knees but was able to turn it into a roll and evaded another kick to her head.

 

Ava saw Sara hit one guy in his ribs and immediately deliver a knee to his stomach. Before she could turn around, the other one jabbed her in her kidneys. Twice. Ava saw Sara wince as she danced backwards, away from both of them .

 

Ava had no time to be impressed. She made her decision as she watched Sara block another kick with her staff, but couldn’t keep out of reach from the second guy. He came up behind her and forced her to let go of the staff as he yanked her arm backwards. She tried to use her other arm to elbow him in the stomach, but he blocked it and grabbed that arm too. The first man grinned wolfishly and came stalking towards Sara.

 

Ava ran back to Zari’s bike and kicked the engine to life. She took off so fast she swore she smelt burning rubber. She rode towards the guy who was stalking towards Sara and slowed down a little when she got close enough. She didn’t want to gravely injure him, just get him away from Sara.

 

She hit the brakes and threw her weight to one side, so the bike skidded sideways into the man. He flew backwards and hit the ground with a loud thud. Sara took this opportunity to twist one arm free, from the now distracted, man who held her and elbow him in the nose. His head whipped backwards and he clutched his face, blood spraying from it. She turned around and kicked him in the chest, sending him stumbling to the ground too.

 

Ava had to give it to them, they knew when they’d lost. The guy Sara knocked down first, had worked himself up into a standing position again and ran over to the bleeding man and helped him towards their bikes. The engines roared to life and they took off, leaving the man Ava had sent flying backwards unconscious on the ground.

 

‘That’s the second nose I broke this year. It’s only March!’ Sara said, trying to make light of the situation.

 

Ava glared at her.

 

‘Are you okay, Ava?’ Sara said in a more serious tone now.

 

Ava ran both her hands through her hair and down her face. Realisation of the situation finally completely setting in.

 

‘HELL NO?! What the _fuck_ just happened Sara?! Who were that?!’ Ava yelled, gesturing wildly.

 

Her eyes caught side of the man still on the ground and a whole new sense of panic set in.

 

‘And that man. He – he isn’t moving… Sara. H – he isn’t moving.’ Ava stuttered out, shaking her head and eyes screwing shut.

 

Sara grabbed Ava’s hands and coerced her into opening her eyes. Ocean blue found grey blue and Ava instantly felt a little calmer.

 

‘Ava. Calm down. I’m gonna check on him, yeah? And then I’m gonna call Mick and we’ll take care of it. Okay?’ Sara said in the softest voice she could muster.

 

She patiently waited until Ava nodded in confirmation, before walking over to the guy and checking for a pulse. Her shoulders sagged in relief when she found one. She lightly shook him and his face scrunched up as he groaned lightly. Having the reassurance she needed, she fished her phone out of her pocket and dialled Mick’s number.

 

‘Yeah It’s me. There’s been a situation. Other end of the road. Bring a car.’ Sara said, looking over at Ava in concern.

 

‘Yes. Okay bye.’

 

She hung up and pocketed the phone again. She walked back over to a trembling Ava and grabbed Ava’s face in her hands.

 

‘Aves, look at me. He’s fine. Snart and Rory are gonna take care of it. It’s gonna be fine, I promise. Now please, Aves, are you hurt anywhere?’ Sara said in the most comforting voice.

 

Ava shook her head.

 

‘No, I’m fine.’

 

Ava seemed to calm down a little, her trembling stopped and the panic left her eyes. She nodded a few times, more to herself than to Sara and took a few deep breaths. With her fear and panic leaving, her confusion returned tenfold, but before she could ask any questions, a black jeep stopped next to them.

 

Snart and Rory exited the car and walked over to them.

 

‘Well, this is a surprise. You girls okay?’ Snart drawled as he took in the scene.

 

Sara and Ava nodded in unison and Snart nodded contently.

 

‘Mick grab that guy.’ He said.

 

Mick grunted in answer and walked over to the man. He threw him over his shoulder and placed him in the jeep. Ava gawked and then shot a shocked expression Sara’s way, that Sara pointedly avoided.

 

‘His bike’s over there.’ Sara said to Snart, pointing towards where the black bike was standing.

 

Snart nodded.

 

‘Mick drive him back to the park, I’ll follow on his bike. We can talk about this later Sara, I’m sure you have a lot to talk about.’ Snart drawled and Ava missed the subtle nod towards Sara.

 

Ava watched the two men disappear in the direction of the trailer park and waited impatiently until Sara grabbed her leather jacket from where she shrugged it to the ground. Ava got even more irritated when Sara took her sweet time, picking up the staff and putting it back to wherever it came from on the bike.

 

When Sara finally walked back over to her, Ava had her arms crossed in front of her chest and her jaw was locked . Sara was evading eye contact, but she could feel Ava’s stare burning a hole into her.

 

‘Are you finally going to tell me what the fuck just happened?’ She spat.

 

Sara ran a hand through her hair, trying to figure out how she could keep Ava out of this, but she knew it was futile. She could hear the determination in the taller girl’s voice and she knew it wasn’t fair to put her through this without telling her the truth.

 

‘You’re not going to let this go, are you?’ Sara sighed and finally looked into Ava’s eyes.

 

Ava pursed her lips and raised her eyebrow. She looked positively threatening and Sara could feel herself getting smaller under the stern look ava was giving her.

 

‘You know what Sara. I can let this go, but then I’m letting you go too. You’re choice.’ Ava said in the most stern voice she could muster.

 

Sara laughed humourlessly. There was a big chance Ava wouldn’t want anything to do with her, even if Sara told her the truth. Sara knew this was a lose – lose situation, but she couldn’t let Ava walk away. She had to try. She sighed again.

 

‘Okay. Can we go somewhere else though?’ She asked in a small voice.

 

Ava nodded.

 

‘Lily said she’s gone out and probably won’t be back until tomorrow somewhere. Do you want to go to my apartment?’

 

Sara looked down at her feet, a heavy weight setting in her stomach. She realised that Ava didn’t want to come to the trailer park even if it was a more logical location seeing where they and Ava’s car were. She understood though, they took that man there and Ava didn’t need to get dragged into this more than she already was.

 

‘Yes. We should probably get your car though.’ Sara said, walking over to her bike.

 

 

 

 

Ava was driving towards her apartment in her car. Sara followed her on her bike. She had offered Sara a ride, but the smaller blonde had taken her bike so she could leave at any point again.

 

Ava used this time alone to fully calm herself down. She tried not to analyse what happened and just let Sara explain without having already jumped to all sorts of conclusions. She had known Sara was holding things back, when she talked about her past. She had just thought it were emotional things that Sara wasn’t ready sharing yet. She didn’t think it would be dangerous stuff.

 

Still. There may be a really good explanation for what happened and Ava promised herself she would let Sara tell her story and then decide what to do.

 

They got to her apartment and Ava wordlessly let them in. She walked straight to the fridge and offered Sara a beer, which the smaller blonde gladly took.

 

They sat down on opposite ends of the couch and Ava watched as Sara brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Sara sighed and then looked up into Ava’s eyes.

 

‘The people that live at that park aren’t just my friends.’ She started.

 

She swallowed and took a deep breath before continuing.

 

‘We’re a gang, involved in organised crime. I deal drugs.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo... I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> How would you react when you're in Ava's situation and your significant other tells you something like this? 
> 
> Find me on tumblr [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/) I'm always up for a chat!


	13. Now That She Gone, I Know That I’m Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> It's monday and I am back with another chapter!  
> I like this chapter so I really hope you do too!
> 
> It's also the first of April and are you excited?! because I sure am!! I probably have to wait to tomorrow because time difference but!! Can't wait!! Wanna see the new episode so bad!!
> 
> I originally wanted to have both Ava's and Sara's perspectives in this chapter, but I started writing and next thing I know I've written 4k words and not even started on Ava. So, that will be next chapter (is the plan). 
> 
> I hope you enojy this chapter, thank you for taking the time to read it!  
> Let me know what you thought of it! I love reading all of your comments, so thank you for leaving them!

‘We’re a gang, involved in organised crime. I deal drugs.’

 

Sara’s words rang in Ava’s ears. Crime. _Drugs._ She tried to speak, but the sound wouldn’t leave her mouth. Sara had lied to Ava for the entire time they’d known each other and  Ava couldn’t believe she’d trusted Sara. She had let Sara see parts of her no one else had and the girl had lied through her teeth about her entire life like it was nothing.

 

Ava felt her heart squeeze and her stomach flip. She desperately wanted the smaller girl to leave, but she fought against the instinct. She couldn’t handle the flicker of hope that still shone in Sara’s eyes and her hands that nervously started fidgeting the longer Ava stayed silent.

 

Her mind started spiralling and into every interaction they’d ever had and she couldn’t believe she’d been this blind. She could have figured it out. Maybe not precisely what they did, but at the very least she could have figured out Sara was involved in some shady stuff. She just hadn’t wanted to know. Hadn’t wanted to see Sara for who she truly was. A liar, and a criminal.

 

‘Ava – just… Just let me explain. Please.’ Sara pleaded, voice as soft as she could muster.

 

Ava scoffed and crossed her hands in front of her defensively.

 

‘Oh you’re going to explain. You’re going to explain in perfect detail how you lied to me for _weeks._ Please start with that. Why didn’t you just tell me.’ Ava said, voice cold and hard.

 

Sara retreated a bit back into herself as she shook her head, eyes on her hands.

 

‘I couldn’t put my friends in danger like that.’ Sara said, telling Ava the lie she’d been telling herself.

 

Ava scoffed again.

 

‘Don’t bullshit me Sara. You knew I wouldn’t go to the police or whatever. You could have told me.’

 

Sara sighed, shoulders sagging, and guiltily avoided Ava’s eyes.

 

‘Would you have given me a chance though? If I had told you? Would we have had an amazing date? Would we have kissed?’ Sara asked in a small voice.

 

Sara hoped that bringing up the lovely day they’d had, would remind Ava that she actually liked Sara and had wanted to spend the day with her. Sara is still the same person after all, Ava just knows one more thing about her.

 

Ava didn’t think about it like that and a new wave of anger rolled over her face.

 

‘You are so fucking selfish, Sara!’ Ava yelled.

 

Sara’s eyes snapped to Ava’s and she could see the hurt in her wide blue eyes. Ava tried desperately to keep her angry tears from spilling over her cheeks.

 

‘The Sara I went on a date with and kissed apparently doesn’t exist. She wasn’t you. She wasn’t a fucking drug dealer!’ Ava continued yelling.

 

Ava shook her head violently, trying to shake the tears from her eyes. It was futile and she could taste the saltiness in the corner of her mouth.

 

‘You lied to me. And I believed you. I _trusted_ you. Why the fuck did I trust you?’ Ava’s voice broke at the end and her tears started flowing freely.

 

Ava was silent and Sara was stunned. She knew Ava was angry and hurt, but she didn’t expect it to cut her that deep. It was clear Ava didn’t trust her even a little bit anymore and that felt like someone took a knife, sliced Sara’s chest open and squeezed her heart with all their might, while stabbing it simultaneously. She could barely contain herself from gasping as she desperately fought back the tears.

 

‘Ava please – ‘

 

‘No. Just. Get out.’ Ava said, not meeting Sara’s eye.

 

When Sara didn’t move a muscle, she stood up and pointed at the door.

 

‘Get. Out.’ She said, her voice dangerously low.

 

Sara looked at her and Ava saw all the light flow out of her eyes. Worry flared in her chest at the sight of the hard lines that were setting on Sara’s face, but she pushed it down. Sara did this herself and Ava was not going to feel guilty for kicking her out. Sara was a grown woman and she could deal with the consequences of her actions on her own.

 

 

 

 

Sara, as it turns out, could not deal with the consequences on her own.

 

She had walked out of Ava’s apartment, gotten on her bike and driven straight to the closest bar. She had gotten drunk to the point where the bartender wouldn’t serve her anymore and then proceeded to try and steal the liquor herself, which had ended in a barfight. She had gotten out of there just in time to avoid the cops that were rushing to the scene.

 

Sara couldn’t remember how, but she woke up on a bench in a park somewhere with a killer headache and an extremely dry mouth. She squinted against the harsh sun as she quickly checked her pockets and thanked a god she didn’t believe in when she felt all her belongings.

 

She then cursed that same god when she saw, albeit blurry, that her phone was dead and her wallet was empty of all cash. She knew there had been almost 150 bucks in there when she left Ava’s place.

 

She groaned and cradled her head in her hands. She had no clue how to get home, she couldn’t even remember where she’d left her bike.

 

Much to her surprise she heard the same kind of groaning next to her. She looked over and saw a pretty brunette slowly pushing herself up into a sitting position.

 

‘Why is it so bright here. Jesus fuck.’

 

Sara let out a humourless laugh.

 

‘Because, for some reason we ended up on this bench. Outside.’ Sara answered, gesturing around her.

 

The girl squinted at her and held up her hand against the glaring sun.

 

‘I don’t mean to be rude but. Who the fuck are you and how did we end up here.’ The brunette said.

 

Sara let out another humourless laugh. That was a good question. One that Sara asked herself a few times now. One that Sara had answered a few times now too.

 

‘I’m Sara Lance. I fucked everything up, got wasted and here we are.’

 

The brunette nodded.

 

‘Yeah. Me too. Alex by the way. Alex Danvers.’

 

They stayed silent for a few minutes. Sara desperately tried to remember if she’d met Alex during the night or if they’d coincidentally ended up at the same bench. Everything was hazy and her pounding head didn’t help. At first focussing on this Alex girl and her headache were enough to keep out the thoughts of what happened the night before. But eventually she couldn’t keep the flashes of a certain blonde, crying and telling her to leave at bay.

 

Sara shook her head, as if she could shake Ava from her mind, and got up.

 

‘Wait where are you going?’ Alex asked, hand still in front of her eyes.

 

Sara could see bruises on the brunette’s knuckles and a few hazy memories flowed back into her head. Alex smashing an empty beer bottle into the head of a guy that had been trying to punch Sara and punching another square in the jaw. Alex dragging Sara towards the exit of the bar, making a slight detour to grab two almost full bottles of hard liquor. Them drunkenly walking around aimlessly, lost but too drunk to care.

 

Seems like they met during the night after all. One corner of her mouth quirked up. That girl could fight. She liked her.

 

‘I heard the best cure for a hangover is to start the day with the drink you ended the night with. I believe that was scotch.’ Sara answered grimly, desperate to drown out the flashes of blonde that kept plaguing her.

 

Alex grinned and stood up as well.

 

‘That’s gonna be my new life motto, let’s go.’ She said.

 

They started walking in a random direction, Alex admitting she also had no clue where they were. They stopped near an ATM, so Sara could stock up on cash and eventually they found a bar that was open that early in the day.

 

Alex ordered two scotch and told the barman to leave the bottle. The guy’s eyebrows shot up past his hairline, but he didn’t comment on it, leaving the bottle like Alex asked. The two women relaxed a little when they felt the alcohol coursing through their veins, making their minds nice and hazy.

 

‘So who hurt you?’ Alex asked bluntly.

 

Sara shrugged and downed the rest of her scotch.

 

‘Nah. I did the hurting. Like always.’

 

Alex nodded in a way that let Sara know she knew exactly what the blonde was talking about.

 

‘Yeah, me too.’

 

They continued drinking and sharing snippets of their life with each other. Sara found out Alex broke of her relationship, because her girlfriend wanted it to progress faster than she was ready for and instead of having an adult conversation about it, she ran. Then she had proceeded to piss off everyone else that cared about her by lashing out at them.

 

The bartender cut them off when it got close to 9 pm and asked for another bottle. They decided that was their cue to head for another bar and start the whole process again. They started stumbling through the streets, holding onto each other for support. Not eating anything and drinking one and a half entire bottles of scotch was not that good of a combination, but thankfully both women could hold their liquor.

 

About three blocks away, Sara heard someone starting to shout Alex’s name. Alex’s eyes went wide with fear and she scrambled to get behind Sara.

 

‘Oh shit that’s my sister. Quick hide me.’ She said, while trying to fit behind Sara’s back.

 

Sara giggled drunkenly, while trying to make herself as big as possible, but it apparently didn’t work as a blonde girl with glasses walked up to her and raised cocked her head to the side. A mix of worry, exhaustion and disbelief swirled in her eyes.

 

Sara had to swallow a few times, memories of Ava with that same worried expression on her face flashed through her mind. She wondered if the taller blonde would ever look at her with anything but hate and distrust again. Sara shook her head violently, but those grey blue eyes were burned into the insides of her eyelids.

 

‘Seriously Alex? I can see you!’ The blonde said.

 

Alex head peeked out over Sara’s shoulder and she had an apologetic smile on her face.

 

‘Kara, hi. And – oh Lena… hi.’ She said, looking past Kara to another girl who stood a few yards away.

 

Lena held up her hand in a greeting manner and walked over to stand besides Kara. Alex looked at her sister with questions in her eyes as she slowly stepped from behind Sara’s back.

 

‘Kara I’m sorry for what I said – uhm – you know...’ Alex started stuttering, slurring slightly.

 

Kara held up one hand to stop her sister’s rambling and grabbed Lena’s hand with the other, making Alex’s eyebrows shoot up.

 

‘No. It – uhm – it made me realise something and actually brought us closer.’ Kara said, looking over at Lena with an expression of pure adoration.

 

Sara sobered up a little because of the awkwardness of this whole situation. She could see they cared for Alex and had been up all night trying to find her. She wondered if her own friends were worried about her as well.

 

She tried not to think about it, she didn’t want to feel the guilt of disappearing on top of the massive amount of guilt she already felt. She needed to get out of here and find a place with more alcohol. The fact that she could still think was a clear indication that Sara did not have enough to drink yet, she thought.

 

‘That doesn’t excuse the fact that you have been MIA for almost two days! I’ve been worried sick!’ Kara continued in a stern expression.

 

Alex shot her another apologetic smile.

 

‘Yes, how did you find me anyways. Because we have literally no idea where we are.’ Alex answered, gesturing between Sara and herself.

 

‘Lena did some computer stuff to track you down. I don’t know the details.’ Kara answered, worry still evident in her voice.

 

Sara rubbed the back off her neck. As Kara’s focus shifted to her, she didn’t like the way the blonde’s eyes filled with worry for her too.

 

‘Yeah on that note I’m gonna go then. Take care – uhm – bye.’ She said, moving to turn around and wobble away, when she felt someone grab her wrist.

 

‘Seriously? Alex just said you were lost. You’re coming with us.’ Kara said in a stern voice.

 

Sara slowly turned around, trying to put on her deadliest glare. Kara, however didn’t seem all that impressed and she kept her gaze with a determination that Sara couldn’t help but admire. Eventually she relented, she was drunk and tired and she could sense the other blonde wasn’t going to give up that easily.

 

Kara nodded at the non-verbal surrender and slung one arm around Alex’s waist and another around Sara’s and helped them both towards the car that stood parked to the side. Lena unlocked the doors and took a seat behind the wheel. Kara dumped Alex and Sara in the backseat and got in beside Lena.

 

Sara dosed off a little, but Ava’s red blotched cheeks and watery eyes plagued her dreams and her eyes shot open when the car stopped. Kara helped them up the stairs to an apartment and deposited them on the couch. She poured them each a big glass of water and made them drink every last drop.

 

‘Where is your phone Sara? I think it may be time to contact your friends or family?’ Kara asked, voice soft but without leaving any room for discussion.

 

Sara was about to argue anyways when Lena chuckled and walked over to them.

 

‘I think that won’t even be necessary. Look.’ She said, holding up her phone to them.

 

On the screen, Sara could make out a photo of herself that Zari posted on Instagram with the caption:

 

_If anyone has seen this idiot, please dm me. She’s probably drunk and miserable, watch out._

Sara rolled her eyes and knit her brows together in annoyance as the three girls around her started laughing.

 

‘Well she got that right.’ Alex chuckled, but then her expression became more serious. ‘You should probably call her.’

 

Sara shrugged.

 

‘I don’t want to talk to her right now.’ She answered, avoiding eye contact by looking down at her hands.

 

She missed the nod Kara send to Lena and the latter walking away, typing something on her phone. Kara handed Sara a phone charger and Sara did reluctantly plug in her phone. The phone buzzed to life and the missed calls and texts started pouring in. Most of them were from Zari, a few from Snart and even two from Constantine. Ava hadn’t called or texted. Not that Sara expected her to, but it still hurt.

 

Kara and Alex were talking quietly and Sara got lost in her own mind. She really fucked up big this time. Some part of her had thought, hoped, Ava would understand and wouldn’t care. She realised she had been so focused on keeping her own feelings safe and protecting Ava from possible harm that came with knowing about her life, that she hadn’t taken into consideration the hurt it could cause Ava.

 

She should never have let Ava get this close, she hadn’t signed up for all the baggage that came with Sara. She was right, Sara was incredibly selfish and it hadn’t been fair to let Ava fall for her when she had known it would always end this way. But Sara had realised too late that she had been falling for the tall woman from the get go. She could have protected Ava if she just wouldn’t have been this selfish.

 

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t hear the front door opening and someone entering until a familiar brunette knelt down in front of her.

 

‘You’re an idiot, Sara.’ Zari said, shaking her head.

 

Sara glared at Kara and Lena, who stood guiltily to the side. Zari followed her glare and smacked her on her arm.

 

‘Don’t blame them! You’re lucky they took your sorry ass in long enough for me to come get you.’ Zari continued.

 

Sara shrugged and looked at her hands again.

 

‘Fine. Don’t talk. We’re still going home, come on.’ Zari said.

 

She smacked Sara’s knee and stood up.

 

‘Thanks for contacting me Lee, see you in class yeah?’ Zari said to Lena, who nodded.

 

That made the other three girls look at them in surprise.

 

‘Wait, you know each other?’ Sara asked.

 

Zari rolled her eyes.

 

‘She speaks after all. Yeah Lena and I have a few classes together. We’re the only girls, so we always stick together.’ She answered.

 

‘We also easily outsmart everyone else.’ Lena added with a smirk.

 

Kara smiled at Lena affectionately.

 

‘Yeah, she’s the smartest person I know.’ She cooed, earning a shy smile and a wink in return.

 

Sara muttered ‘gross’ under her breath and Alex made gagging noises while complaining that their love made her sick. Zari just smiled at them.

 

‘I’m glad that finally worked out Lee.’ She said, making Lena blush.

 

Alex and Sara both rolled their eyes.

 

‘I’m in fucking med school, but apparently smashing on a keyboard is more impressive than saving actual lives.’ Alex said sarcastically, making Sara laugh and the rest of the group roll their eyes.

 

Zari grabbed Sara’s arm and dragged her to her feet.

 

‘Wait!’ Alex said, rummaging around for a pen and paper. ‘Here is my phone number, call me if you want a sparring session or if you wanna get drunk again.’ She said, handing Sara the slip of paper.

 

Sara folded it and put it in her back pocket.

 

‘Thanks. How about right now?’ She said with a longing look to the liquor she spotted on the shelf.

 

Before Alex could nod enthusiastically and grab the bottle Kara was at her side and pushed her down on the couch again, shaking her head disapprovingly. Zari tightened her grip on Sara and dragged her further away from the brunette that was obviously not a good influence on Sara.

 

They said their goodbyes and Zari and Sara walked to the car and got in. Sara shot Alex a quick text so she had her number too and then reluctantly turned to Zari who was looking at her expectantly.

 

‘What the fuck happened Sara?’ Zari snapped at her.

 

Sara shrugged nonchalantly and looked out the window.

 

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

 

Zari rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

 

‘Let me illustrate for you’ She said sarcastically ‘I come home to Snart and Rory taking turns punching some random guy in the face, because they tried to kidnap you and Ava and she ran my bike into him.’ She continued, pausing dramatically and gesturing wildly.

 

To be completely honest, Zari was quite impressed when she heard Ava had run her bike into a man that was trying to hurt Sara. Seemed to her that Ava already cared deeply for the smaller blonde and would come around eventually.

 

‘Then Snart says you went with Ava, but none of us could get a hold of you. Now at first I thought that was a good thing.’ Zari added with a wink. ‘But than Snart says he gave you the okay to tell Ava the truth so now I’m really worried. I try calling you again but your idiotic ass let your phone die, so I call Ava and she tells me she hasn’t seen you for hours?!’ Zari yelled.

 

While Zari ranted, Sara retreated further and further back into herself.

 

‘I’m sorry Z. I just – I needed to get away.’ Sara said.

 

She hoped Zari would calm down a little, she didn’t think she could handle more people being mad at her, but Zari wouldn’t let up.

 

‘There are people literally hunting you, Sara! And you go about getting drunk in public, what were you thinking?!’ Zari yelled.

 

Sara flinched.

 

‘I wasn’t thinking. I needed to stop thinking.’ Sara said quietly.

 

Zari’s worry seemed to subside a bit and she registered what Sara said.

 

‘I’m guessing she didn’t take it well?’ Zari said in a softer voice.

 

Sara shook her head, tired tears leaking out of her eyes.

 

‘I’m sorry Sara. Do you want to tell me what happened?’ Zari said, patting her arm in what she hoped would be a comforting manner.

 

Sara shook her head as she fought the tears that were steadily slipping down her cheeks.

 

‘I think you should anyways.’ Zari said softly.

 

Sara balled her hands into fists and clenched her jaw. Debating with herself whether she could handle telling Zari. After a few moments she decided maybe it would help. She took a deep breath and shakily began the retelling of earlier events. Zari continued to pat her arm and let Sara get everything off her chest. By the end of it the small blonde was shaking and her cheeks were red and blotched from her crying. Zari blew out a breath and mulled over everything Sara told her in her head.

 

‘It sounds like Ava’s mostly very upset that you lied to her. She doesn’t sound that worried about you being involved in a gang, I mean she mowed that guy down without question. I think she just feels betrayed that you didn’t trust her enough to tell her.’ Zari thought out loud.

 

Sara shrugged and hiccupped.

 

‘Doesn’t matter anymore. She is never going to talk to me again. She hates me.’ Sara said, voice breaking as the words left her mouth.

 

Zari firmly shook her head.

 

‘She’s hurt. She doesn’t hate you. Give her some time, Ava isn’t the type to leave things like this. I think she eventually wants to hear the whole story. Whether you are prepared to tell her is up to you.’ Zari stated confidently.

 

Sara hung her head, tears still rolling down her face.

 

‘I don’t know Z. I wanted to tell her, but she kicked me out before I got the chance.’ She answered.

 

‘She’ll come around. Amaya did when I told her.’ Zari said.

 

Sara’s eyes snapped over to Zari’s.

 

‘You told Amaya? When? What happened? Why didn’t you tell me?’ Sara asked.

 

Zari smiled a sad little smile at the memory.

 

‘Pretty soon after our first date. I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want you to feel that kind of added pressure when you were figuring things out with Ava. I guess maybe I should have, I’m sorry.’ Zari started, an apologetic smile on her face.

 

‘I realised I was falling for her and I wanted to give her the option to have nothing to do with me if she didn’t want to be involved or even associated with that kind of thing.’ She motioned to Sara. ‘So I asked Snart if it was okay if I told her and he gave me okay.’ She continued.

 

Sara looked at her with wide eyes, impatiently motioning for her to continue.

 

‘I told her. Everything. She was mad and upset, but she understood I wouldn’t go around telling everyone before I knew a little bit more about them. She still doesn’t like it, and she doesn’t want to hear about it, but she understands that this is just what I do. How I repay you guys for saving my life.’ Zari finished.

 

Sara looked down at her hands.

 

‘The difference is that you didn’t tell her until you literally couldn’t keep it a secret anymore. And I think Ava is most upset about that. I mean she probably hates everything to do with crime and breaking the rules, but I think she hates lying and getting her trust broken even  more.’ Zari stated firmly.

 

Sara nodded, another tear escaping her eyes. Sara knew it made sense deep down, that Ava was more upset with her for lying than for dealing drugs. That however didn’t change the fact that Ava kicked her out and now seemingly wanted nothing to do with her. She could only hope Ava would come around and give her a chance to complete her story.

 

‘Since when are you the voice of reason?’ Sara asked, a small smile on her lips.

 

The corners of Zari’s mouth curled up into a smirk.

 

‘I’ve always been the voice of reason, you just don’t speak that language.’

 

Sara stuck out her tongue and punched her best friend lightly on her arm.

 

‘Shut up and drive, Tomaz.’

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> my tumblr is [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/) you are more than welcome to come talk to me!


	14. What You Do To Me Hurts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> First of all I'm sorry for missing last weeks update. Life happened and I didn't have enough time to write.   
> The plot thickens a little in this chapter so I'm excited about that.  
> I have a very rough plan in my head, but most of this fic just happens along the way so I'm curious and a little scared of what is going to happen too ahahah.  
> I'm curious to know what you thought of Ava's POV, let me know! :)  
> Thank you for waiting and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Title is from 'Judy' by Castlecomer

Ava watched the light flow out of Sara’s eyes. Hard lines took over her face as she watched Sara lick her lips and then clench her jaw. Her eyes, cold and determined met Ava’s one last time and then she turned around and walked away.

 

Ava let herself slide down to the floor, back against the couch and ran a shaking hand through her hair. She was stunned for a few moments, trying to comprehend what just happened. What she’d just done. She promised herself she would let Sara explain, but before the girl had even said three full sentences, she’d kicked her out. Creases appeared in her brow and her lips pressed together in a hard line as she tried to keep the tears inside her eyes. It didn’t help and before she knew it she was quietly sobbing, head in her hands.

 

Ava knew it was too good to be true, but she hadn’t been strong enough to walk away. Sara had pulled her in and held her tight and Ava had desperately wanted to believe that it was real. That everything Sara said and did was true and real, but of course it wasn’t.

 

Why did she always fall for this. Why couldn’t she just listen to the voice in the back of her head, telling her this wasn’t a good idea. That Sara Lance was bad news. That she should have stayed away from the smaller girl, like she planned. But no, Ava had to learn the hard way that these things never ended well.

 

She wasn’t even that mad about the crime. She knew Sara had had a rough youth and she could understand that would seem like the only way to survive. That it was now probably too familiar to stop. She also knew that Sara would probably stop after she’d finished college. Why even start if she was planning on living her whole life as a drug dealer. She figured Rory and Snart had something to do with them all being in college.

 

She could also understand Sara hadn’t told her on their first conversation. She was a stranger back then and Sara wouldn’t have known if she could trust Ava like that, but apparently she still didn’t trust Ava. She probably wouldn’t even have told her if those three men hadn’t shown up. How was Ava supposed to have a relationship with someone who didn’t even trust her. How could Sara even say she has feelings for her when she doesn’t trust her.

 

Of course Sara doesn’t have real feelings for her. Ava wasn’t the person someone fell in love with, certainly not someone like Sara. Someone who could have everyone they wanted to. Ava understood why she didn’t choose her. Ava also wouldn’t choose herself.

 

Ava raised her head out from her hands and let it fall back against the couch. Her tears had dried up some time ago and now Ava just felt numb. She realised she couldn’t blame everything on Sara, that wasn’t fair to do.

 

Sara probably thought she was even more stuck up than before. Ava couldn’t even handle one criminal offense. Sara probably didn’t even want or need her to be okay with what she did for a job, but Ava had made such a big deal out of it.

 

Why couldn’t she just be chill like others. Sara probably told many people what she did and it would make a lot swoon over her instead of freak out on her. But not Ava, no Ava just had to yell and make a scene.

 

But she hadn’t made a scene of the crime specifically. She had made a scene about the lying. She _hated_ lying. Getting lied to was one of the worst feelings in the world, because if someone doesn’t even deem you worthy enough of the truth, they can’t think much of you.

 

Ava had already been lied to enough in her life and she was sick of it. She hated that the people who she cared about most always ended up lying to her and she wasn’t going to let Sara hurt her even more than she already did.

 

But even thinking of Sara hurt. Ava kept replaying the moment those electric blue eyes went cold and hard when she kicked Sara out. She kicked Sara out. She kicked out the best thing that happened to her and now she was all alone again. She let her head fall back into her arms when she felt the tears well up in her eyes again and let herself quietly sob.

 

Ava didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there when her phone rang. She let it go, it was probably not important to her anyways. And if it was important, if it was Sara, she didn’t want to answer. She just couldn’t deal with it right now. The phone quieted down but immediately started ringing again. She cursed and slowly got up. Her whole body was stiff and aching from sitting on the floor.

 

She looked at the display and saw an number she didn’t recognise calling her. She debated on what to do, but eventually her curiosity got the better of her and she answered.

 

‘Hello?’ She said and screwed her eyes shut at her hoarse voice. It was obvious Ava had been crying.

 

_‘This is Zari, Sara’s friend, I’m sorry to bother you but I’m a bit worried about her. Is she with you?’_

Ava’s eyes went wide as the familiar tingle of panic traced up her spine. She tried to keep her breathing slow and even. The last thing she needed was a panic attack when she was on the phone with Zari.

 

‘Uh… No. She – I – uh. She… left about – ‘ Ava looked at her phone and raised her eyebrows in shock. ‘ – three hours ago.’ Ava said.

 

She heard Zari mutter an annoyed curse under her breath.

 

_‘She told you and you kicked her out right? You haven’t heard from her at all?’_

Ava screwed her eyes shut again, she didn’t know Zari all too well. Only from a few stories Sara had told her, and from Amaya’s swooning over her. She didn’t know if the girl was going to be mad at her for kicking her friend out.

 

‘Uh – I – uh… Yes. Yes I did. I’m sorry.’ Ava stuttered.

 

She didn’t know what to do. Was she now supposed to go help look for Sara. Should she try and call her. Or should she do nothing since she was the reason Zari hadn’t heard from Sara.

 

_‘No, don’t apologise. She’s an idiot and should have told you sooner. You were right kicking her out. It’s going to be okay Ava, I promise.’_

 

Ava expected a lot of things, but Zari saying she was right to kick Sara out wasn’t one of them. She was too stunned to say anything and before she could find her voice again Zari continued.

 

_‘I have to go. Please let me know if you hear from her, you have my number now.’_

 

Ava nodded and then realised Zari couldn’t see that so she cleared her throat.

 

‘Yes I will. Please also let me know if you find her.’ Ava said, her eyes went wide as she realised those guys they ran into might still be looking for her.

 

Sara was being hunted and no one could get a hold of her. Maybe she already was in their hands, or maybe she was just very stupid. Either way it wasn’t safe for her to be outside and when she told Zari as much, she heard the girl take in a shaky breath.

 

_‘I know, but Sara can handle herself. It’s gonna be okay. I promise.’_

 

Zari sounded like she was trying to convince herself of that fact more than Ava.

 

‘Okay.’ Ava said.

 

She didn’t know what to say. Should she offer to help or would that make matters even worse. She was after all the one who drove Sara away, even though she deserved it. She eventually decided her involvement would only make it worse and besides that she already had herself to deal with.

 

_‘Bye, Ava.’_

Zari’s voice sounded soft, worried. Ava didn’t want her pity or worry and tried to make her voice sound as reassuring as possible when she said goodbye.

 

Silence filled the apartment once more and Ava didn’t know what to do with herself. She had kept this evening free of any activities, because she was planning on spending it with Sara, but obviously that didn’t happen.

 

She knew it would be best to let Zari handle this, but it was hard to let go. She wanted to call Sara, to make sure she was okay, but she knew she shouldn’t. She needed to get her own thoughts in order first, she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to talk to the smaller blonde again.

 

The only one Ava would even consider talking to right now, was Lily and she was out until somewhere tomorrow. Instead of going through her phone and finding someone else to talk to, she paced around the living room.

 

Her emotions switching from anger to despair to longing and right back to anger. Ava didn’t know how to deal with it. She tried sleeping, but after an hour of tossing and turning she gave up and angrily got up again.

 

She wanted something to do to stop her hands from fidgeting and eventually her eye settled on the vacuum and cleaning supplies. She supposed the apartment could use a bit dusting off and it would give her something to do. She was sick of hearing herself think and just wanted her head to quiet down.

 

She put her hair up into a tight bun, pulled the cleaning gloves over her hand and got to work.

 

With every bit of dirt removed from the apartment and every surface polished, it was as if her mind cleaned up too. She was still mad at Sara. She was still upset that Sara hadn’t trusted her. She still doubted the feelings Sara said she had for her. She still didn’t know what she wanted. But, she did know she had to give Sara a chance to explain herself, for real this time. She owed it to both of them.

 

Ava blew a strand of hair out of her face and pulled off the gloves. She cleaned every bit of the apartment and felt her eyelids droop. She looked over at the clock and saw that it was almost 5 am. With her minded quieted down and cleared up a bit, she felt a wave of exhaustion come over her.

 

Leaning against the kitchen counter,  she sighed a few times. Monday. She would talk to Sara on Monday. That would give them both another day to calm down and Ava a chance to prepare for everything.

 

They’d seen what happened when Ava didn’t prepare for something like that and she didn’t want a repetition of last night.

 

Monday. Right now, Ava was going to sleep. She dragged herself to her bed and fell into a restless sleep filled with crying electric blue eyes, bloodied knuckles and bruised faces, framed with shiny blonde hair.

 

 

 

 

Ava woke up around noon with a headache and heavy limbs from the lack of qualitative sleep. She forced herself out of bed, because she knew it would only make her head hurt more if she fell back asleep now. Dragging herself to the kitchen she smiled contently when she saw the apartment, now spotless. She made herself a cup of coffee and sighed when the first sip touched her soul.

 

Ava leaned against the kitchen counter quietly sipping her coffee as her thoughts once again wandered back to Sara. She shook her head, trying to keep herself from falling into that spiral again and focussed on the day ahead. She could use this time to catch up with her coursework, not that there was much left, but she figured something to do was better than nothing.

 

She almost finished her coffee when she heard the front door opening. Lily skipped into the apartment with a smile on her face. It faltered when she saw Ava’s dark circles and the squeaky clean apartment. After slowly turning around and taking everything in, she turned back to Ava.

 

‘What happened?’

 

Ava shrugged nonchalantly, taking another sip.

 

‘I don’t understand what you are referring to.’

 

Lily rolled her eyes, walking over to where Ava was standing and motioned to the apartment.

 

‘You’re a terrible liar. The apartment is spotless. What. Happened.’

 

Ava raised an eyebrow and feigned an offended expression.

 

‘You are making it sound as if I never clean. I always clean.’

 

Lily rolled her eyes again and moved to make herself a cup of coffee too.

 

‘I know, which is why it’s worrisome that somehow I immediately noticed the apartment was cleaner than usual. That fact, combined with the discolouration under your eyes suggests you spent the night cleaning instead of in bed with a hot blonde. So, what happened?’

 

Ava glared at Lily as her breath caught in her throat at the thought of her and Sara in the same bed. How her skin would feel under Ava’s hands. How her icy blue eyes would turn a few shades darker. How she would feel – _Oh nope not going there._

‘Things – things didn’t work out.’ Ava said, feeling a familiar burn already starting behind her eyes.

 

‘What does that mean? You were doing great? What happened?’ Lily asked.

 

Ava sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She didn’t know how much she should tell Lily. She knew Sara’s secret would be safe with the brunette but it wasn’t really her story to tell. She didn’t even know the whole story there was to tell, because she kicked Sara out before she had the chance to tell her.

 

Her bottom lip started quivering as a tear slipped out of her eye. She thought she’d be all cried out by now, but it seemed like her eyes thought otherwise. She let out a shaky breath again as more tears slipped out of her eyes.

 

‘Oh Ava, honey. Come on. Let’s sit on this beautiful, clean couch and talk.’ Lily said, pity evident in her voice as she guided ava to the couch and sat down close next to her.

 

Ava realised she had been worried about not telling Sara’s story that she forgot she had her own part in that now. She was, after all, also attacked. It wasn’t just Sara who was threatened, she herself had been there too and frankly, Ava found it quite traumatic.

 

And so she told Lily. She told Lily about the amazing day they’d had, the kisses they’d shared and the food they’d eaten. How Sara had thought of everything, even the fact that she didn’t like fruit. Lily laughed and smiled and called Ava a weirdo, but most of all she listened as her best friend struggled through the part where the three men had stopped and attacked them. Her eyes widened in wonder and respect as Ava told her how Sara had defended them and she snorted as Ava admitted she had run a bike into one of them. That earned her another glare from Ava.

 

When Ava was done, it was almost 4 in the afternoon. Her shirt was wet with fresh tears and her throat was scratchy from talking so much. Lily sat back and blew up her cheeks in thought.

 

‘I don’t know what to do.’ Ava admitted quietly.

 

Lily nodded in understanding, but averted her eyes from Ava’s. With the knowledge she just got from Ava, a lot clicked in her mind, but with her best friend heart-broken, she didn’t know if she should share what she gathered.

 

Ava looked at Lily when the latter remained silent. The brunette averted her searching gaze and Ava’s eyes widened.

 

‘Did you know already?!’ Ava yelled, feeling fresh tears immediately spring back into her eyes.

 

Lily held up her hands in a soothing manner and figured she didn’t really have a choice.

 

‘No, no, no. I promise. But I might know something else, that only now seems of significance.’

 

Ava leaned back with a sigh of relief. She couldn’t take another betrayal like that. She let the brunette gather her thoughts and looked at her phone. There was one new message of Zari. With her heart in her throat she clicked on it.

 

_Hi Ava, this is Zari. Sara is safe. She’s hungover, but she’s safe._

She closed her eyes as a wave of relief passed over her. A few more tears slipped out of her eyes, and she wondered if she would stop crying over everything today. She’s safe. Ava doesn’t have to feel the guilt of being the reason Sara got kidnapped. _Hungover_ , so she’d gone out and gotten herself drunk enough for an actual hangover. Knowing Sara, it took quite some alcohol to get drunk and Ava was instantly worried again.

 

‘AVA!’

 

Ava snapped out of her thinking and glared at Lily for making her startle.

 

‘What?’ she said, slightly irritated.

 

‘I said that so much makes a lot more sense now and I asked, like three times mind you, if you knew if Sara is a part of ‘the legends’.’

 

Ava looked at Lily like she’d just grown a second head.

 

‘I thought you said you didn’t know Sara was part of a gang.’ Ava said, betrayal seeping into her voice.

 

Lily shook her head.

 

‘No I didn’t know about Sara being part of them, but I learned about ‘the Legends’ about a week ago. So that’s true?’

 

Ave shrugged and sighed.

 

‘Sara did say something about ‘a legend never coming quietly’ when those guys tried to kidnap her, which is the most arrogant thing I’ve heard in a while by the way.’ Ava answered with an eyeroll. ‘But I didn’t exactly let her finish before I kicked her out, so I don’t know for sure.’.

 

Lily chuckled, shaking her head

 

‘Oh my god of course she would say something like that.’

 

Then her face turned serious again.

 

‘Those men that attacked you were Darkhs right?’ Lily asked, a frown on her face.

 

Ava nodded in confirmation.

 

‘Yeah, you know Ray right? –‘

 

Ava scoffed, interrupting her.

 

‘Yes, they learned where we would be because of him.’

 

Lily avoided Ava’s eyes.

 

‘Yeah, my bad, I’m sorry Ava. I was just talking to him and it slipped out and I didn’t think it would have this as a consequence.’

 

Ava dismissed the answer with a wave of her hand and sighed

 

‘It’s not your fault. It’s also not Ray’s fault, I’m sorry. Continue.’

 

Relieved, Lily continued.

 

‘Ray has this huge crush on Nora, Nora Darkh.’

 

Ava gasped at the word Darkh.

 

‘Yes, well he obviously didn’t know she was part of her father’s criminal operations. He probably didn’t know her father was involved in shady business. Anyways, last week Ray went over there, I don’t even know, to see Nora with some excuse he probably made up.’ Lily said, face scrunching up in amusement.

 

‘He accidently overheard them talking about ‘snow’, but, being the innocent sunflower he is, didn’t understand what it really meant and walked in there like ‘is it going to snow?’.’ She continued with a snort.

 

‘So Nora’s father didn’t want anyone to –‘

 

‘What is snow?’ Ava interrupted her.

 

Lily looked at her with a puzzled expression, that Ava just shrugged at.

 

‘What? How am I supposed to know what snow means if it doesn’t really mean snow?’

 

Lily shook her head again.

 

‘Oh honey. Snow means cocaine.’

 

Ava’s mouth formed a perfect ‘o’ as she fell quiet again.

 

‘Yes. So, Nora thankfully talked Damian out of doing anything rash and told Ray to go. He came to me and told me. Poor boy was all confused about all the commotion because of some simple snow and I sure as shit am not going to tell him what they really meant.’

 

Lily frowned.

 

‘Only thing I don’t understand is why they would want to go after Sara. Does she know Ray?’

 

Ava shook her head.

 

‘No, she looked puzzled when those men said Ray told Nora where we would be.’

 

Lily nodded.

 

‘Then I’m at a loss. But I think Sara should know, don’t you?’ She asked carefully.

 

Ava nodded reluctantly.

 

‘Yes. I was planning on talking to her tomorrow anyways. I shouldn’t have kicked her out and I want to give her a chance to explain. So I’ll talk to her about this too.’

 

Lily reached out and rubbed Ava’s arm.

 

‘I know this is probably hard. I’m proud of you Ava. Please try not to get stuck in your own stubbornness and really listen to her when she tells you her reasons.’

 

Ava looked at her hands.

 

‘I’ll try. Can we now please do something to distract me. Watch a movie or something.’

 

Lily nodded her head enthusiastically.

 

‘Wanna watch the new season of Sabrina?’ she asked, practically bouncing in her seat.

 

Ava laughed.

 

‘Yes, I’ll make some popcorn.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that! Sara and Ava will talk again in the next one sorry for keeping them seperated ahah
> 
> My tumblr is [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/) if you want to come chat/yell at me you're very welcome to!
> 
> See you next time!


	15. Somewhere In Between Where and Why

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> Back with another chapter right on time for once ahahah  
> I'm in doubt about this one man. On one hand I really like it, but on the other it feels a little off and I don't know why. So I'm very curious about what you all think! Please let me know! :)
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Title is from 'Why' by the Cranberries

Ava kept wiping her clammy hands on her pants as she walked to class. She was nervous and stressed. She kind of hoped Sara would be in class, because she wasn’t looking forward to awkwardly texting her, but, knowing Sara, she wasn’t counting on it.

 

She mentally went over everything she would need to say. She had rehearsed it in her head about fifty times already, but it wouldn’t hurt to go over it once more. After she experienced how she reacted when she wasn’t over prepared she was scared to leave anything up to chance. The last thing she wanted was a repetition of the last time she saw Sara.

 

No, she would calmly apologise for kicking Sara out and then tell her she had some information about the Darkhs that she thought Sara and the rest of their gang would probably like to know. After that she would also offer Sara a chance to explain if the smaller blonde would still like to do so. Which she hoped Sara would. After her initial fury had left her, she was left with this itch. She wanted, almost needed, to know. To understand. And she hoped Sara would give her another chance to listen.

 

Ava didn’t know if she could forgive Sara for lying that quick, and she most definitely wasn’t going to fall right back into whatever they had been doing before. Come on, she did have some pride left. But she needed to know none the less.

 

Ava knew what she wanted to say and do. She was prepared. She was convinced of that right up until the moment she came face to face with the smaller blonde.

 

Her blue eyes, normally dancing with mischievous twinkles, were glazed over and Ava, almost as if Ava was looking at fogged over glass noticed the dark crescents under them. The corners of Sara’s mouth were turned down in a sad, broken expression that stopped Ava dead in her tracks. The absence of that infuriating smirk Ava had gotten used to was like a knife through her heart. Sara looked incredibly small, curled into herself with her shoulders hanging low.

 

‘S – Sara.’ Ava breathed, not being able to form a full sentence.

 

It was clear Sara hadn’t seen her yet, because her head shot up at the sound of Ava’s voice.

 

‘Ava. Hi.’

 

Sara’s voice sounded low and rough. Obviously Sara hadn’t had much sleep. The realisation that it was Ava’s fault the smaller girl hadn’t gotten enough sleep made guilt bloom in her chest.

 

‘You look tired.’ Ava said.

 

She cursed herself. That wasn’t, at all, what Ava was planning on saying. Sara shot her a confused look.

 

‘I guess I am tired, yeah.’ She answered in a flat voice.

 

Sara looked so broken and Ava couldn’t help herself. Torn between wanting to gather the smaller girl in her arms and hold her close and keeping her distance to protect herself against getting hurt, she took a tentative step forward.

 

‘What are you doing here?’ Ava asked.

 

She cringed and shut her eyes as she took a breath. Sara shot her a half hearted smile that wouldn’t quite reach her eyes.

 

‘You know this is also my class, right?’ She answered.

 

Ava shook her head.

 

‘I’m sorry, I just – didn’t expect you here.’ Ava said.

 

Sara sported a sad little smile and tried to make light of the situation by joking.

 

‘We wouldn’t want my grades to start dropping now would we?’

 

Ava rolled her eyes as a smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth. It was so easy to fall back into the light banter Ava had gotten used to and had started missing so much in the last couple of days.

 

A wave of sadness washed over her as Ava was reminded of what she had lost. She cleared her throat and schooled her features back into a neutral expression. Sara caught the shift in her mood and the corners of her mouth fell back down.

 

‘So, uhm. I – I talked to Lily and she had some information about the – uhm – the Darkhs.’ Ava said, cringing at the uncomfortableness evident in her voice.

 

Sara’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline and she let out a emotionless laugh.

 

‘Of all the things I imagined you would say, that wasn’t it.’

 

Ava shot her a nervous smile.

 

‘Yeah, that makes two of us.’ She said, taking a deep breath. ‘I uhm I don’t really know if it’s even important, but I feel like you should now.’

 

Sara nodded thoughtfully.

 

‘If it’s about the Darkhs I definitely want to know, do you want to tell me now? Or…’ Sara answered, letting the suggestion hang in the air.

 

Ava looked down at her feet and shifted uncomfortably.

 

‘I was wondering if – if you would want to talk about uhm… well – us too?’ Ava whispered.

 

Sara’s eyes shot back to Ava’s. hope breaking through the fogginess in her blue orbs. Ava could see the surprise radiating off of Sara. That too wasn’t something that Sara expected Ava to say probably.

 

‘Yes’ was Sara’s breathless answer. She didn’t dare to say more, fearing Ava would change her mind.

 

‘Can I – I mean maybe – I mean. It’s maybe good for the rest of your – uhm… gang… to hear what Lily had to say? So, maybe I could come over tonight? I mean I can also tell you now, but I thought – well I don’t know.’ Ava rambled, finally wringing her hands together behind her back as she cut herself off.

 

Sara was looking at her with a bemused expression.

 

‘That would be great, Ava. Just come whenever, we’ll be there.’

 

Ava nodded and shot Sara a small, genuine smile.

 

‘Okay. Well, see you tonight then.’ She said as she walked past Sara into the lecture hall.

 

Her shoulders sagged in relief and she felt a little bit of tension leaving her muscles. They had a conversation without it ending horribly. That was good. Now she only had to survive tonight.

 

Ava had thought it would be harder to not get mad at Sara. Had thought her chest would immediately be filled with hot anger. Instead, she found it the most difficult not to say screw it and embrace the smaller blonde.

 

 

 

 

Ava had to force herself to take deep breaths the entire ride over to the trailer park. She was anxious and jumpy and her chest was just a little too tight. It was a familiar feeling, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with. She was oh so very conflicted. On one hand she wished she was going anywhere but where she was going and on the other she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Sara. She was tired and she missed the other blonde.

 

As she turned into the road that lead to the park, she was on the verge of a full blown panic attack. Driving past the place where it all happened was much harder than she thought it would be. She had to physically shake the memories from her mind.

 

Too soon she arrived at the gates of the terrain. She parked her car to the side and saw Sara walking towards her when she got out. She gave her an awkward little wave and received a small nervous smile in return.

 

Sara lead them towards the fireplace where the rest of the so called Legends were sitting. Ava tried her hardest not to roll her eyes as she saw John also sitting in the circle. She took a seat next to Sara and nervously cleared her throat. Sara had obviously told them why she was here, as they were all looking at her expectantly. She was still gathering her thoughts when John rudely interrupted her.

 

‘Well, out with it pet. Some of us have lives to get to.’

 

Ava rolled her eyes and was about to respond when Sara punched him in the arm and told him to fuck off. John grunted at the impact of the punch and rubbed his bicep, much to Ava’s satisfaction.

 

‘Yeah – uhm. So. I told my roommate, Lily, about everything that happened and she –‘

 

‘Sure, cos we like to go around telling bloody everybody we’re criminals.’ John interrupted her, with a roll of his eyes.

 

Sara moved to punch him again, but Ava held up her hand. Anger bloomed in her chest and she gestured to everybody in the circle.

 

‘No. You know what. I was attacked too. I was in danger too. Because you all didn’t think it was necessary to let me know what I was getting into.’ She said, voice rising with her emotion.

 

She was about to continue ranting when Zari nodded.

 

‘That’s fair. We felt like it was Sara’s decision and sadly she made it too late. Don’t worry I’ve already lectured her on it.’ She said, earning a glare from Sara. ‘And we didn’t think you not knowing would have these consequences, which was stupid and ignorant and I’m sorry.’

 

Ava stared at her with confusion evident on her face. She didn’t know what she did to get Zari this far on her side, but she was glad for the support. She gave Zari a small smile and got a warm one in return.

‘So, as I was saying. Lily has this friend Ray, who has –‘

 

‘Wait. Ray? Ray Palmer?’ Nate interjected.

 

Ava rolled her eyes.

 

‘None of you know how listening works.’ She deadpanned.

 

Sara snorted, but then shifted her gaze towards Nate.

 

‘Do you know him?’ She asked.

 

‘Yeah he’s one of my best buddies.’ Nate answered.

 

‘Well do you know he has a huge crush on Nora? Nora Darkh?’ Ava asked, making Sara’s eyes shift towards her once again.

 

‘He did talk about some girl, but never said her name. Wow a lot could have been avoided if I’d just asked her name.’ Nate said, guilt seeping into his voice.

 

Sara placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and told him it wasn’t his fault. Ava looked at the exchange in awe. She could see the reassuring effect Sara had on the boy and she wondered where someone who had gone through too much could find it in herself to be so kind and soft to the people she cared about.

 

Ava patiently waited until they were finished before she continued.

 

‘So, according to Lily he overheard the Darkhs talking about cocaine, but he didn’t exactly understand they were talking about cocaine because they used – God I feel like I’m in an episode of NCIS – they used code words. I believe that, and Nora sticking up for him kind of saved him.’

 

She looked expectantly at the faces surrounding her and waited for someone to say something.

 

‘What would that have to do with them trying to kidnap Sara?’ John stated.

 

Ava nodded and shrugged.

 

‘That’s what Lily and I also couldn’t figure out. The two events might not be related at all, but with Nate and Ray apparently being good friends, maybe it has something to do with that?’

 

Ava nodded again, more to herself than to anyone else.

 

‘Yes, maybe Darkh thinks Ray is spying on them for you guys. And that in combination of fatherly instinct to protect his daughter from boys prompted him to try and kidnap you.’

 

‘Why Sara though? There are more of us here.’ John cut it.

 

‘Because she runs the drugs side of all of whatever it even is you do, obviously.’ Ava said in a slightly condescending tone directed at John.

 

He sputtered some protests, but Sara was smugly grinning at them.

 

‘No, she’s right. I’m your boss.’ She said, with a wink.

 

A wink directed at John. Ava felt her stomach twist. She already didn’t like John and she liked it even less when he was on the receiving end of her winks. Instead of her. If looks could kill he’d be killed dead.

 

‘You got yourself a smart one, Sara. Better come up with a real good apology for fucking up that big.’ Snart cut in.

 

Ava guiltily avoided eye contact with Ava. Ava, however was feeling better. Part of her worries had been that she was overreacting. That Sara told a lot of people if she thought they were chill about it. But Zari’s and Snart’s outrage at Sara, reassured her that she was in fact in the right and not being crazy or freaking out about something not worth freaking out about.

 

Ava now also understood that Sara didn’t go around telling everyone. None of them did. John’s comment made that clear. So telling someone must have been a pretty big deal and if Sara had been doing this for a long time, Ava could begin to understand why she didn’t tell her. It still hurt, but for the first time she had the feeling that she could move past this.

 

Ava’s eyes were trained on Sara and she couldn’t find it in herself to tear them away. It wasn’t anger that filled her chest this time. It was longing, tinged with sadness. Sara seemed to sense Ava looking at her and finally lifted her gaze to meet Ava’s.

 

Sara smiled a hesitant little smile and her eyes filled with so much sincerity and openness that left Ava breathless. She realised she’d not seen this in Sara’s eyes yet. Sure, she’d stared into them for hours on end, but she was never met with this depth. Even when Sara was telling her about her past, there was always a little barrier that Ava hadn’t realised was even there. Now she knew why.

 

They continued to stare into each other’s eyes until Snart pointedly cleared his throat.

 

‘So I think I know what we have to do.’ He then looked at Ava. ‘I understand if you’d like to leave, but you’re welcome to stay, you have some great input.’

 

He patiently waited until Ava had made up her mind. When she told him she’d stay, she received warm smiled in return from everyone except John, who was sporting a scowl.

 

Snart started talking. Nate would have to find some way to keep Ray away from the Darkhs, before he got all of them killed, even if that meant telling Ray about them. They would send the guy Ava had run over back to Damian with the message to not mess with them and hope Damian would listen. Sara assured them that if he was smart he would, because as had been made clear, they couldn’t just take what they wanted and they were no match for the legends.

 

Then there was another matter at hand. If Ray heard them talking about cocaine, the Darkhs were expanding their business. Up until now, they’d dealt in weed and pills mostly. If Darkh was moving onto more serious drugs, it would be bad for their own business. For the obvious reason that it meant Darkh would attract a larger customer base, but also because it would probably get the attention of the authorities and that was the last thing they wanted. With the attention of the cops on them, it was much harder to do business, because people got wary. Stopped buying party drugs or bought less of it. And also because they didn’t want to go to jail.

 

Ava listened quietly as a plan began forming in her head.

 

‘So you sabotage it.’ She said, before she could stop herself.

 

All the heads whipped towards her and Ava wondered how she had gotten to the point where she was helping criminals. She hated it, but it was also… exciting. That and she wanted that Darkh guy out of the way. It was his fault anyways that everything went down the way it did. If he hadn’t sent those men, Sara would have the chance to tell her in her own time. She realised that could very well have been never though. Sara shot her a questioning look and she realised she had been silent for a moment.

 

‘Well preventing is better than curing right?’ Everyone nodded and she continued. ‘The drugs nee to come from somewhere and if he wanted to start dealing in cocaine but hasn’t before, it’s probably because he hasn’t found a good enough supplier. That means there are few suppliers, so if you find the one Darkh wants to use and somehow sabotage their relationship, he will be right back at square 1. On top of that, if you do it smart enough, he won’t know it was you and won’t come after you.’ Ava finished.

 

Everyone was staring at her in amazement and Sara grinned proudly.

 

‘Since when are you a criminal mastermind?’ Zari teased.

 

Ava smiled self-conscious and clasped her hands in front of her.

 

‘It’s just a bit of economic theory applied to this case.’ She uttered.

 

Snart smirked and turned towards Sara.

 

‘See? That is why we sent you to college.’ He drawled and Sara stuck out her tongue at him.

 

‘So that means we have to find out his supplier. Zari can you get on that?’ Snart continued, turning more serious.

 

Zari nodded firmly.

 

‘Yes, it might take a while though, Damian has a pretty intricate system. It would be easier if I got help, but none of you ever want to learn about computers.’

 

Sara looked thoughtful.

 

‘Maybe Lena can help? She’s a Luthor right? So she probably has hatred for the Darkhs on a personal level. I bet she’d be willing to help sabotage his operations.’ Sara offered.

 

Zari nodded thoughtfully.

 

‘Yeah that’s true. I’ll ask her about it.’

 

They continued mulling over details of everything, but Ava tuned out. She found herself looking at Sara once again. She could see she was in her element, she was good at it too, leadership came naturally to her. She knew what they had to do and wasn’t afraid to make the tough decisions. Everyone followed her naturally and Ava could easily see her as the head of some company. Every so often Sara looked at her and smiled softly. Ava knew they had some broken pieces to tape bag together, but right now, in this moment, she let herself enjoy being in Sara’s presence again. Just for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you fro reading!
> 
> Tumblr is [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/) if you have questions or want to talk :)


	16. I wanna hear something new, I want it to be the truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!!
> 
> You probs didn't miss me but I missed you! and I missed writing!  
> I passed all my finals (yayy me!) so my second year at uni is done :)  
> Which means I probably will have more time to write.  
> But I'm not gonna make promises bc I work quite a lot now without school.
> 
> Anyways enough about me.   
> I hope you will still enjoy this even though the wait was so long.  
> Let me know what you thought if you want :)
> 
> Thank you for waiting I hope you like it!

‘Ava?’

 

‘Ava!’

 

Ava shook her head, tuning back into the conversation, to find the whole gang looking at her. She had completely zoned out and didn’t even know if they were still talking about the Darkh’s.

 

‘Sorry. Yes?’ She answered sheepishly.

 

Snart, who had spoken, smirked and crossed his arms in front of him.

 

‘I asked if you wanted to be involved.’ When Ava gaped at him with a confused expression on her face, he continued. ‘With this Darkh operation.’

 

‘Operation lights out!’ Zari yelled enthusiastically.

 

Ava was grateful for that interruption, as it allowed her to gather her thoughts a little more. Sara laughed at Zari’s play on words but the rest of the circle just stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. 

 

‘You know? Because the guy’s called Darkh?’ She continued trying to get a more enthusiastic response. It didn’t entirely work as most of the gang was still looking at her as if she’d grown a third head.

 

Ava couldn’t help but chuckle, but her mind quickly returned to Snart’s question. Did she want to be involved? She didn’t, she really didn’t want to be involved, but she was, wasn’t she. She was already involved and there was not really a point in denying that. So the right question to ask would be did she want to continue to be involved.

 

That question left her extremely conflicted. Because, no she didn’t want to stay involved, but she couldn’t ignore the feeling of liking it. She liked it. She liked being a part of them. Brainstorming with them. _Helping_ them.

 

She liked the way they all looked at her in shock when she said something clever. She liked the way Sara would then cock her head to one side and smirk that little smirk that made Ava’s knees weak even though she would never admit it. She liked how Snart would nod and Rory would grunt approvingly. Hell she thrived on the way John would scowl at her like she said the most outrageous thing.

 

She liked it. And she didn’t understand why.

 

She shouldn’t like it, not by a long shot. Ava tried to remind herself that she loved rules. She loved the structure and the guidance it provided, so she should hate breaking them like this. Or at least toeing the line on breaking them like this.

 

But she didn’t. And that confused her to no end.

 

It wasn’t like Ava at all, to be conflicted about something like this. A few months ago, this would’ve all been very black and white. Dealing drugs and stealing was bad, so people shouldn’t do it. And Ava definitely wouldn’t be involved with people who had no respect for the law and the structure it provided. It wasn’t like Ava at all to even be thinking about still being in contact with any of them, let alone be one of them.

 

 She really didn’t know what to do and she didn’t think she could give Snart a straight forward answer right now. She told him as much and he nodded in understanding.

 

‘Think on it. You’re more than welcome to, but I understand if you’d rather never hear anything about it ever again.’

 

Ava nodded. She awkwardly looked around the circle of faces. Now that she’d said she didn’t know if she could be part of this, they probably expected her to leave. Besides that, Sara probably had more important stuff to think about right now than her. They would talk another time. She turned around and started walking away.

 

She missed the subtle nod Snart gave Sara, as she did so and the sudden hand on her shoulder startled her.

 

‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.’ Sara said with a small smile playing around her lips, hand still on Ava’s shoulder.

 

Once again Ava was struck by the openness in Sara’s posture. The smaller blonde held eye contact with her, even through the range of emotions that flickered over her face. Sara’s eyes eventually settled on fear. Fear tinged with hope. It made Ava’s knees weak and her hands shake.

 

Ava looked for something that would give her an excuse to stay angry at Sara, but she couldn’t find it. Being angry at Sara was easier, even though it hurt like a bitch. It was easier. Because if she forgave Sara for this, she didn’t know who she was. And Ava had always known who she was. She hadn’t always be honest about it either, but she’d always known. Then this girl comes along and suddenly she’s into crime? Suddenly she’s okay with dealing drugs and stealing?

 

Her conflicted feeling must have shown, because Sara guiltily took back the hand that still rested on Ava’s shoulder and looked away.

 

‘I am really sorry Ava.’ Sara said quietly.

 

She shook the sleeves of her hoodie over her hands and started fidgeting with them.

 

‘I wanted to tell you. I just – I didn’t want you to stop liking me.’ She admitted.

 

‘Can we just not do this here?’ Ava asked softly as she gestured to the open space around them.

 

‘Yeah, no. Sorry. Of course. Would you like to come to my cabin?’ Sara stammered.

 

Ava bit back a small smile. Under different circumstances, she would have really enjoyed having a stammering Sara Lance in front of her. The seriousness of the situation quickly took a hold of Ava again and the almost smile fell from her face. She gestured for Sara to lead the way.  

 

They walked to Sara’s cabin in silence and when they were comfortably inside, Sara offered her something to drink. Once they were both seated on opposite sides at the little table, Ava with a glass of water and Sara with a can of coke, Ava took a deep breath.

 

‘So I –’

 

‘I was –’

 

They smiled nervously at each other and then Ava motioned for Sara to go first.

 

‘first I just wanted to say again that I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied for that long and it kills me that it put you in danger. There is not really any excuse, but If you’d let me I’d like to tell you everything.’ She said.

 

Sara’s brow was furrowed and Ava could see the tip of her tongue as her mouth was slightly hanging open. She seemed to wait for Ava to either run or give her an indication that she could continue.

 

Ava did want to know. She wanted to know everything. One because it made it possible for her to make a completely informed decision. Ava liked making a decision when she was fully informed, that way she could always rely on logic to look back and understand why she did what she did. Feelings could change. If someone made a decision based on the fact that it felt a certain way, Ava always wondered how much she could rely on it later.

 

And two, even though harder to admit, she was curious to know what made Sara the person she was today. She was curious to know why Sara did the things she did. She already had the big picture, but she wanted to colour it in.

 

So she nodded. And Sara told her.

 

She told her everything. Starting all the way back when the Lances were still a happy family. Ava could tell thinking all the way back then brought up mixed feelings, judging from the sad nostalgic smile on Sara’s face. She moved on to the car accident and her dad’s drinking, with tears in her eyes. Ava could tell she’d far from forgiven her father for abandoning her like that.

 

Sara took her on a road trip through the foster care system, which was not a pleasant experience to hear. Ava could only imagine how it had been for Sara to live that nightmare. Ava realised that back then Sara really didn’t have a choice. If she didn’t steal food, she didn’t eat. It was that simple and Ava started to understand that crime like this wasn’t always black and white.

 

She actually felt relieved when Sara got to the part where Mick found her and took her under his wing, glad Sara had found two parent figures in her lives. Even though now it seemed like those roles were reversed somewhat.

 

When Sara admitted Mick and Snart had tried to keep her out of the criminal side of their lives altogether but she’d refused because she wanted to help, Ava understood. She didn’t like it, but it seemed like neither Mick nor Snart had liked it either. Ava was grateful they’d made her go to college.

 

Sara continued, telling her how their operations had grown and how she’d taken on the drug dealing when she was 16. It was honestly a shame she couldn’t put it on her resume under ‘manager position’.

 

Sara told her how they’d met Constantine and Zari and how they’d become a tight family. She still didn’t like the boy, but she could see that Sara cared a great deal for him. So she guessed that made him alright.

 

With Zari and Constantine on their team, their entire operation had kept on growing and after a little while they got on Darkh’s level. The Darkh’s had been around for much, much longer, but the Legends had never been enough of a threat to try and do something about it.

 

Sara told her how they’d butted heads more often than they could count. After a tense period of time they had decided to leave each other be, if no one intruded on the other’s territory. All had gone quite well. Until now. But that was a bridge they would cross when they got to it.

 

When Sara finished her entire story, a thick silence hung between them. Ava was processing all the information that she’d just gotten and Sara was anxiously awaiting her reaction.

 

‘I have questions.’ Ava said.

 

Sara let out a relieved laugh and motioned for her to go ahead. And Ava did. She asked anything and everything that came to mind. Sara answered each one of them patiently.

 

‘I guess I have one question left.’ Ava said, not looking Sara in the eye when she continued.

 

‘Why didn’t you trust me?’

 

Sara blew out a breath and frowned. She started fidgeting with her hands.

 

‘You were right the other day. It was selfish.’ She said.

 

‘Yes it was. That doesn’t answer my question though.’ Ava said, voice hard and face unreadable.

 

She needed to know why Sara hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her. And if the smaller blonde dared to say that she did it to protect her friends she was going to have another thing coming.

 

‘I didn’t want you to stop liking me. Everything was wonderful and I didn’t want to ruin it by telling you the truth.’ Sara admitted, still looking down at her hands.

 

‘Yes. You said that and I understand. But why were you so certain telling me would ruin everything? Why were you so certain I would disapprove so much I’d walk away?’ Ava asked, voice getting tight.

 

‘Well you kinda did.’ Sara said, evading the real question once again.

 

‘That’s not true and you know it. I got angry because you lied to me, not because you deal drugs. I understand why you do it. I don’t like it, but that has more to do with it being dangerous and I’m not exactly fond of the idea of you in danger.’ Ava said, trying to be patient and give Sara time to gather her thoughts.

 

‘I know. I’m sorry. I guess I just thought that a wonderful, good person like you would never stick around for a fuck up like me.’ Sara quietly admitted.

 

Then it hit Ava. All this time she had thought Sara hadn’t told her because she thought Ava was too stuck up to ever be okay with anything illegal. But that wasn’t it. Sara hadn’t told her because Sara didn’t think she was good enough for Ava. Sara hadn’t told her because of Sara, not because of Ava.

 

All this time Ava had been blaming herself for not being trustworthy enough for Sara to tell her. For being too strict and too stiff. And all this time Sara had been trying to protect herself from the heartbreak that would follow Ava leaving her when she told her. Sadly that only caused more heartbreak, but Ava could see Sara realised that and blamed herself too much already.

 

Suddenly Ava saw Sara in an entirely new light. And it was beautiful. Where Ava had seen selfishness and greediness, she now saw too much hurt covered by a desperate attempt to protect herself. And instead of the urge to push her away, suddenly she wanted nothing more than to pull Sara closer to her.

 

 

 

 

Somewhere in the midst of telling her story, Sara had started crying. There were too many emotions swirling around. Anger and sadness still rooted deep in her bones and Sara had to dug her nails into her palms to keep herself from seeing red.

 

That, she was used to when she talked about the past. What was new, was this heaviness starting to lift off her chest the further into her story she got. She’d never been glad to tell someone all that happened, but now she was. With every word that travelled through the air, it was as if a little piece of that deeply rooted despair went with it.

 

She realised it was the first time she had told it all in one go like this. Her friends knew, of course, but they always found out in little pieces. She’d never told them the full story, it was just too painful to think about it for that long. She’d been so young and left all alone in a world that didn’t care for her. There weren’t really words to convey how that felt. She tried anyways and somehow Ava understood.

 

When she finally whispered the answer to the question that she knew plagued Ava’s mind, she saw the change in her demeanour. Ava’s eyes went soft and her posture slacked a bit, edges softened.

 

And when Ava tentatively reached out to take Sara’s hand in her own, Sara’s own resolve crumbled. Her muscles went slack all at once and she let her head hang as more tears quietly slipped down her cheeks. Relief swept through her like a tidal wave. She hadn’t even realised how absolutely terrified she was of Ava’s rejection and all Sara could do when that didn’t happen, was cry.

 

Sara was prepared for the worst, prepared to be left alone once again and she didn’t understand why instead of running away, Ava pulled her to her chest. She started stroking her hair, while humming a comforting tune under her breath. It only made Sara cry harder.

 

‘Wh – Why? Why are you still here?’ Sara choked out in between sobs.

 

Ava’s humming stopped and Sara felt her press a soft kiss to her head.

 

‘Because you, Sara Lance, are the most wonderful person I have ever met.’ Ava said softly, pressing another kiss to her head.

 

Sara huffed out a strangled laugh.

 

‘I’m serious. I also realised your reasons weren’t all that selfish after all. And you’re not the only one who made mistakes.’ Ava continued, in that same soft voice.

 

‘But I –’

 

‘Shh. You’re not this big bad person you like to think you are, Sara. And I’m sorry I didn’t realise that sooner. I’m also sorry for never letting you finish talking and I’m grateful you put enough trust in me to tell me all of that after all.’ Ava interrupted.

 

Sara pushed off from Ava’s chest and sat up. She looked Ava in the eyes, searching for any trace of doubt, but finding none. Ava lifted up her hand to wipe away some tears and she laughed a little when more slipped out of Sara’s eyes, making her efforts futile.

 

Sara smiled too and moved to kiss Ava’s wrist. She took a shaky breath and found Ava’s eyes again, much closer this time. She raised her hand to brush a loose strand of hair out of Ava’s face and softly cupped her jaw. Ava smiled and brushed her thumb over Sara’s lips, before bringing Sara’s face even closer to her.

 

‘Can I kiss you?’ Ava asked.

 

She wanted to make sure Sara wanted this too and didn’t feel like she just owed it to Ava.

 

‘I don’t know? Can you?’ Sara grinned back.

 

She had enough of crying and needed to lift some of the heaviness that still hung in the air. So she did the most Sara thing she could think of and made a corny joke. She knew it worked when Ava rolled her eyes.

 

‘Once a brat, always a brat, I guess.’ She said, trying very hard not to smile.

 

Sara caught onto it and her infuriating smirk made a full reappearance. Ava shook her head, took Sara’s chin between her thumb and forefinger and used her lips to wipe away that smug expression on Sara’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!  
> Let me know what you thought!
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/)


	17. Now If We're Talking Body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> Im just gonna say it, this chapter is pure smut.  
> 2,8k worth of smut  
> So I'm hiding in a trashcan ahah.
> 
> You won't miss anything if you skip this chapter, so if you don't feel comfortable with reading it, you don't have to for any piece of the plot. And I'll hopefully see you next time!
> 
> For those of you who do want it, I hope you enjoy lmao

Ava decided kissing away Sara’s smugness was her favourite way to get rid of that infuriating smirk and she wasn’t about to stop any time soon. Sara moaned into the kiss and the sound made a shiver run down her spine. Ava moved her hand so she was cupping Sara’s jaw and she felt the smaller blonde tangle her hands into Ava’s hair and try to pull her closer.

The angle was a little awkward and Ava started to feel the edge of the little table dig into her stomach. She broke the kiss with a groan and leaned back, breathing heavily. Sara looked at her in confusion. She looked absolutely stunning with a little pout on her swollen lips and her wide blown pupils. 

She raised an eyebrow at Ava and she noticed the small trace of fear in Sara’s gaze. Ava realised she’d abruptly ended the kiss, without explanation and had now just been staring at Sara for the last half a minute. 

‘Sorry. The table was hurting me and – God you are beautiful.’ Ava said

Sara blushed under Ava’s intense gaze and it made the taller blonde a little more confident. 

‘So… Why don’t you come over here.’ Ava suggested, looking pointedly at her lap. 

Sara smirked. Ava’s playful suggestion making her own cockiness return twofold. She stood up and slowly walked over to Ava’s side of the table. Ava followed her every move and her breath hitched when Sara leaned down to brush her lips over Ava’s. The touch was featherlight and Ava needed more, but when she reached up to tug Sara closer to her, the smaller blonde moved backward with a smirk on her face.

‘Why don’t you’ Sara started as she seductively walked backwards towards her bed, ‘Come over here instead.’ She added as she reached the edge of the bed and sat down on it. 

Ava wasn’t about to decline that invitation. Ava walked over to Sara and straddled the smaller girl, all the while Sara watched her with that same infuriating smirk on her face. Ava decided to go with the same tactic as she had before, because that seemed to work wonders. She put her arms around Sara’s neck and captured her lips with her own. 

Ava felt Sara smirk into the kiss and almost rolled her eyes. Instead she swept her tongue over Sara’s bottom lip and lightly bit it. Sara’s mouth fell open a little as she moaned at the new sensation and Ava wasted no time entering Sara’s mouth with her tongue.

They continued to explore each other’s mouth, taking all the time they wanted. Sara’s hands traced patterns on Ava’s back and eventually settled on Ava’s ass. She started massaging it lightly, which made Ava moan. 

Ava broke the kiss again, but she immediately moved to kiss along Sara’s jaw to her neck. She took her time exploring the sensitive skin and memorised all the spot that elicited delicious sounds from the smaller blonde. At some point she pushed Sara back, so she lay flat on the mattress, and continued her kissing and sucking. 

Ava moved her explorations down a little but when she reached the edge of Sara’s shirt, the smaller blonde wasn’t having it anymore. In one fluent motion, she flipped them over. Ava moaned when Sara kissed her again and she reached up to cup Sara’s jaw again. Her fingers traced over her jaw, down her neck and where well on their way to Sara’s boobs when her hands got smacked away. 

‘It’s my turn now, don’t you think?’ Sara said as she gently placed Ava’s wrists next to her head, giving them a little squeeze to indicate her intentions. 

Ava chuckled, but it turned into a breathy moan as Sara started her own exploration of Ava. She started at her ear and moved on down, way too slow for Ava’s liking. When she finally reached Ava’s collarbone, the taller blonde was whimpering beneath her. 

Sara grinned to herself and sat back to enjoy the view. Ava’s hair was messy, with loose strands sticking out everywhere. Her lips where a little swollen and Sara noticed the beginnings of a few bruises on the side of Ava’s neck. 

‘Looks like you’ll need to wear a scarf tomorrow.’ Sara said with a grin, not at all sorry for that fact.

Ava’s opened her eyes with a disapproving look on her face, but it turned in a self-satisfied and slightly guilty expression when she took in the sight of Sara’s own neck.

‘Looks like I won’t be the only one.’ She answered as she pushed herself up into a sitting position and slid her hands under Sara’s shirt. 

Sara gasped in mock offense and tangled her hands in Ava’s hair as the latter started kissing the exposed skin above her breasts. 

‘Can I take this off?’ Ava asked in between kisses, tugging on Sara’s shirt to show what she meant. 

Sara nodded eagerly and lifted her arms above her head to allow Ava to take the garment off. Ava sighed contently and took a minute to just stare at Sara in amazement, but soon enough the smooth skin, littered with freckles, was too inviting. Ava flipped them over again, the unexpected movement making Sara squeal in the process. 

Ava started kissing the newly exposed skin, trying to drink as much of Sara in as she could. The shorter blonde sighed and gave in to the sensation, not wanting to rush Ava, even though there was evident heat starting to build low in her belly.

When Ava got to Sara’s bra, she proceeded to smirk and then lick along the edge of the black material. Sara arched her back off the mattress and moaned into the touch. 

‘Do you want me to take this off too?’ Ava husked, as she let the strap of Sara’s bra lightly snap against her skin. 

Sara moaned a breathy ‘yes’ and lifted her back even more, to accommodate Ava in unclasping her bra. Ava hungrily sucked one of Sara’s nipples into her mouth and flicked her tongue over it, while rolling Sara’s other nipple between her fingers until it stiffened. 

Sara arched into the touch and moaned a little louder, she grasped Ava’s hair and held her head firmly in place. Ava smirked at the way Sara liked to keep a little resemblance of control and she didn’t mind the little sting. 

After a while of licking and sucking Sara seemed to decide that she wanted Ava’s mouth on hers again and she indicated it by dragging Ava’s head back up again. The kiss was messy and sloppy but both women moaned into it anyways. Sara let go of Ava’s hair to tug on her shirt.

‘I think it’s getting a little unfair, don’t you?’ Sara got out between kisses, already working Ava’s shirt over her head. 

Ava grinned and helped the smaller blonde out by lifting her arms. She giggled when Sara immediately started tugging on Ava’s sports bra as well. When they were both topless, Sara lifted herself up into a sitting position, with Ava straddling her. She dragged her fingers down Ava’s back. It made Ava suck in a deep breath and arch her back, which was exactly what Sara wanted. 

She smirked and started kissing the soft skin around Ava’s boobs, taking her time in circling in on one of the already stiff nipples. Only when Ava whined and practically pushed her nipple into Sara’s mouth did she give in and swirl her tongue around the bud. 

Ava moaned, eyes screwing shut at the sensation of having Sara this close to her. She had thought about it, of course, but it was so much better in reality than she could have ever imagined. She felt seen and adored and it felt amazing to have Sara’s full attention on her like this. Even though Sara didn’t know what exactly she liked yet, she seemed determined to figure it out and took her sweet time in doing so. 

When Ava felt like it was her turn to explore Sara’s body again she pushed the smaller girl to the mattress again. She quickly kissed down her breasts to her stomach where she gave Sara’s beautiful defined abs some attention. Ava reached the waistband of Sara’s pants and hooked her fingers into it, tugging lightly as she kissed and licked along the edge. She tentatively undid the button and slowly unzipped the zipper, kissing the newly exposed skin as she did so. 

‘This still okay?’ Ava asked, as she hooked her fingers into both Sara’s jeans and underwear, indicating what she wanted to do.

She wanted to make sure she wasn’t doing anything that would make Sara even the slightest bit uncomfortable. 

‘Only if yours go as well’ Sara said with a wink, before lifting her butt off the mattress so Ava could slid the pieces of clothing down her legs.

With a coy grin, Ava slid off the bed and slowly unbuttoned her pants, making Sara watch as she slid them down her legs inch by inch. Sara rolled her eyes at her but Ava couldn’t help but notice her breathing turning a bit shallow as she revealed her long creamy legs.

Ava smirked as she crawled back over to Sara, boy shorts still on, much to Sara’s dismay. 

‘I thought we agreed on something.’ Sara husked in her ear as she made the elastic band snap against her stomach. 

Ava just grinned and started kissing along Sara’s jaw. The smaller blonde, however, was not having it. She flipped them over again and pinned Ava down beneath her.

‘Off’ Sara growled in her ear as she bit Ava’s earlobe for emphasis. 

Ava took a shuddering breath in as she gave into the commanding tone of Sara’s voice and pushed her underwear down her legs. Sara watched her with hungry eyes, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. 

As soon as Ava kicked her underwear to the side, Sara’s mouth was on her belly, one hand coming up to massage Ava’s boobs. She rolled her nipple between her fingers and squeezed it, making Ava moan and arch up into her touch. 

Ava decided Sara had gotten enough time to explore her every inch and it was now time for her to move a little lower. Judging by the wetness on her thighs, she was more than ready. Ava grasped Sara’s hair and tried to push her head to where she needed her most, but Sara just laughed and smacked her hand away.

‘Patience, you’ll get what you need.’ She said, nipping at her thighs ‘Eventually.’ She added with a wink.

Ava whined in frustration but let her hand fall to her side again. Sara continued to suck and nip at her thighs, leaving marks there too. She moved closer to her centre ever so slowly and Ava’s whines grew more desperate with each passing minute. She was so going to get back at Sara for this torture.

After what felt like hours, Sara’s mouth was hovering right above where Ava needed her most. Sara’s arms were hooked around Ava’s thighs, keeping her firmly in place with her legs spread open for Sara. 

‘You are gorgeous, you know that right?’ Sara asked, her breath tickling Ava’s sensitive centre. 

Ava bucked her hips and whined in response, making Sara grin. She decided to tease Ava a little more and lightly blew air on Ava’s clit. The taller girl moaned loudly again and tried to push herself against Sara’s mouth, but the smaller blonde’s grip on her thighs was too strong and Ava was left with her frustration. 

Sara repeated that action a few times over, before she finally took pity on the whimpering girl and licked up Ava’s slit with a flattened tongue. Ava’s eyes rolled back into her head and she let out a low moan at the contact. 

‘Fuck you taste good’ Sara moaned, licking up Ava’s slit again. 

Ava could only moan. Sara had barely even started and Ava already saw stars, it was a little embarrassing if she was honest. But, Sara didn’t seem to share her sentiment, she was contently eating Ava out, moaning the whole time. 

Sara wrapped her lips around Ava’s clit and sucked it into her mouth. She flicked her tongue over the hard bud and continued sucking on it. 

Ava grasped the bedsheets to have something to ground her, as the sensation of Sara’s mouth on her made her dizzy. Sara continued like this, slowly building Ava up towards that edge she so desperately wanted to fall over. 

Sara unhooked one of her arms from Ava’s thighs and her finger found Ava’s entrance. She continued sucking on Ava’s clit as she went to slowly push inside of her. Ava’s eyes flew open as she realised what Sara was doing.

‘No. Please don’t.’ She said as she tugged Sara’s hand away from her entrance. 

Sara froze and completely detached herself from Ava, looking up at her with a worried expression. 

‘I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I –’ Sara started rambling scooting away from Ava. 

The taller blonde quickly sat up and took Sara’s hands in her own. 

‘Hey. It’s okay. I’m sorry, I just really dislike penetration.’ Ava said, her thumb stroking the back of Sara’s hand in what she hoped was a soothing manner. 

Sara looked down at their intertwined hands, with a guilty look in her eyes. 

‘I’m sorry. I should’ve asked if it was okay.’ She said, frowning. 

Ava shook her head. 

‘It’s okay. I should’ve let you know.’ She said, using her thumb and forefinger to force Sara to look her in the eyes. 

Sara’s expression was unreadable, but she was obviously beating herself up about it. Ava wanted to let her know that she really was okay. After all, Sara had immediately stopped the second Ava made a noise of discontent. In her eyes, the smaller blonde had done nothing wrong, she’d just gotten caught up in the moment. 

Ava guided Sara’s face towards her, still holding her chin between her fingers and kissed her slow. She moaned at her own taste on Sara and lazily licked her lips as to ask for entrance into her mouth. When her request was granted, she moved her hand to the back of Sara’s head and tugged the smaller girl down with her as she laid back on the mattress. 

‘I’m okay Sara, I promise. Please continue, you feel amazing and I want you to make me see stars.’ Ava whispered huskily against Sara’s lips as she guided Sara’s hand downwards. 

Sara tentatively slid her fingers through Ava’s fold, unsure of her movements and afraid of messing up again. 

‘My clit please, Sara I need you.’ Ava moaned, hoping the encouragement would give the smaller blonde the confidence take control again and make her fall over the edge. 

Sara started rubbing circles on her clit and started kissing Ava’s neck. The taller blonde sighed contently and let her head fall back again. With each moan and content noise Ava made, the smaller girl’s confidence grew back and before she knew it Sara was hotly whispering encouragement and praise into her ear. 

Ava felt herself climbing closer and closer to that edge and her moans grew louder and messier. 

‘Sara – I’m gonna – Fuck Sara – Don’t stop please.’ Ava moaned. 

Sara grinned and continued whispering praise into her ear as she continued circling Ava’s clit until Ava’s pleas became incoherent syllables. Sara roughly sucked on Ava’s pulse point, which was the final push Ava needed. Her body went rigid, before her hips bucked against Sara’s hand. Her mouth hung open in a silent scream and her eyes were firmly shut.

Sara slowed her ministrations to work Ava through her orgasm. When Ava came down from her high, she tugged Sara’s hand away from her too sensitive clit and sucked in a lungful of air. Sara grinned and placed a few featherlight kisses against Ava’s jaw and neck. 

Ava let herself recover for a few minutes. Only when she felt that she had enough strength again, did she roll on top of Sara with a feral grin. She kissed the smaller girl hard and tugged her bottom lip between her teeth, making Sara moan. 

Ava sat up with a cocky grin and pushed Sara’s legs apart, so she was laying bare in front of her. She licked her lips as she took in the beautiful sight before her, deciding what exactly she was going to do next. Ava put her hands on each of Sara’s thighs, applying enough pressure to let the smaller girl know she was in charge now. 

‘My turn. And you better believe I’m going to take my sweet time.’ Ava said in a low voice. 

She grinned dangerously as she watched Sara’s eyes roll back into her head and heard the desperate moan leave her lips. 

Oh how she was going to enjoy this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> find me on tumblr [unlocktherainbow](https://unlocktherainbow.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!


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